Read the next installment: “Talking Identity: A Conversation Between Our Editors”
Read the previous installment: “Can Language Save Communities Under Threat From a Globalized World?“
In 2017, we collaborated with Caribou Digital on the Identities Project. It consisted of field research in India that documented on-the-ground experiences with identity systems–and especially Aadhaar, the national biometric ID program that aims to reach all of India’s 1.3 billion residents. When the project concluded, we had access to detailed interviews with nearly 200 people.
Many of the most interesting stories were from those who were overlooked by the system: individuals from minority groups whose needs were not considered important enough while designing the process of allocating every Indian resident an Aadhaar number. These stories were heartbreaking, shocking, and informative in equal measure, and we felt they needed to be included as part of this series, even as we explore some wider-ranging topics in our main episodes.
The videos below encapsulate real experiences as told to the team during the research process. Though they are drawn from actual interviews, the characters in these videos are fictional.
Champa
Our first video is based on real experiences of transgender people in India. They conveyed to our research team in no uncertain terms that identifying themselves as transgender could put themselves at risk. As India aims to register every individual, what might that mean for someone like Champa?
Nafisa
In our second video, we meet Nafisa, a housewife from rural Assam in Northeast India. As a woman, Nafisa is eligible for a bank loan that her husband wants her to apply for–but a forced interaction with a male bank agent takes Nafisa out of her comfort zone in a significant way. Aadhaar is aiming meant to help people like Nafisa–but are the systems designed with users like her in mind?
David
In our third video, we meet David, who has been blind since birth. David too needs to apply for an Aadhaar number if he wants to continue to receive the state benefits he is entitled to. But the path to getting one is harder than most of us might think.
Read the next installment: “Talking Identity: A Conversation Between Our Editors”
Read the previous installment: “Can Language Save Communities Under Threat From a Globalized World?“
How We Get To Next was a magazine that explored the future of science, technology, and culture from 2014 to 2019. The ID Question is a five-part series that asks: Who and what defines us in the digital age? The series follows The Identities Project, field research that looked at the real-life impact of identity systems on individuals in India. It was conducted by Caribou Digital and Storythings and commissioned by the Omidyar Network.
