Nothing to Lose but their (Block)Chains: Biometrics, Techno-imaginaries, and Transformations in Rohingya Lives

Can stateless persons become legal/economic subjects without state ratification? Can they appropriate technologies not designed for them to create both new subjectivities and new forms of communitiy? A Malaysia/based non-profit social enterprise, comprised of stateless Rohingyas, has been attempting to circumvent state rejection by inscribing aspects of Rohingya (in)dividuals – biometric data, kinship generalogy information, and records of community participation – upon a digital blockchain ledger. The enterprise seeks to mobilize blockchain’s affordances to iteratively construct Rohingya subjects, re-presenting them to new institutions (banks rather than humanitarians) as quasi-legal persons, producing entities ultimately certified for ‘financial inclusion’ – bank accounts and loans – seeking to generate post-Westphalian spaces and subjectivities. Yet, in the wake of a revanchist nationalist resurgence in Malaysia – as with bourgeoning right-wing populism globally – the spaces in which blockchained subjects might maneuver have narrowed, compelling our attention to the “non-sovereignty” in this project’s version of “self-sovereignty.”