Assistant Professor, Colorado College
Contributor, Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
Research Interests
AI | China | Design Anthropology | Environments | Feminist STS | Medical anthropology | Science & Technology Studies | Smart cities | Taiwan | Urban Design |
About Aaron
Aaron Su is an incoming Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Colorado College. His first book project probes how promises of progressive and participatory technological innovation are reconfiguring ideas of health, the environment, and ethnic and Indigenous inequality in Taiwan, China, and beyond.
Contact
Contributions to Platypus, The CASTAC Blog
View all of Aaron's posts on Platypus, The CASTAC Blog.
The Sovereignty of Wearables: Indigenous Health and Digital Colonialism in Taiwan
Now that I’ve mentioned it to her, Ms. Pacidal—an Amis Indigenous woman in her 80s—starts to fiddle with the watch on her left hand. It has a black, square, and boxy plastic face, on which shines a dimly lit screen that shows the date and time, location tracking services, and a daily step count. “It’s light,” she says. “In fact, almost forgettable!” It’s secured on Ms. Pacidal’s arm with a rubber strap, and she tells me that she has not taken it off for months. “It goes with me into the shower, when I cook, when I clean. And the battery lasts for almost a week. So it’s almost invisible,” she says. “So invisible,” a nearby care worker interrupts and laughs, “that it’s measuring her vital signs and she doesn’t even know!” (more…) (read more...)