Keren Weitzberg

Keren Weitzberg is a senior lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. Working at the intersection of science and technology studies, forced migration studies, and critical race studies, she examines the socio-political implications and historical antecedents of digital and biometric systems. She is particularly interested in how biometric infrastructures shape the lives of refugees and marginalized citizens. She has over fifteen years of experience carrying out archival research, fieldwork, and interviews in cross-cultural, multilingual settings in Kenya and collaborating with artists and civil society groups across the US, Europe, and East and Southern Africa. 
She has published in leading academic journals, including The Journal of African History, Big Data & Society, and the American Historical Review, as well as popular outlets, such as The Washington Post, London Review of Books, and The Conversation. She has also consulted for civil society groups, including Amnesty International, Privacy International, and Campaign Against the Arms Trade. Her research has been funded by several national and international funding bodies, including the American Council of Learned Societies, the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, Human Sciences Research Council, the Fulbright program, and the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Her first book, We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya, was a finalist for the 2018 ASA Award for best scholarly work on Africa.