To the bodies themselves: E-Nabız at the intersection of bodies, politics and technologies

Abstract

The body and technologies point to two important material sides of politics. This research is about the political meanings of the body constructed in the mediation of technology, e-Nabız in Turkey. It investigates the forms of embodiment and political subjectification through the e-Nabız case, which is an example of data technologies in Turkey. Using Foucault's relational power description, Braidotti's embodied and relational subjectivity, and the reflection fields opened by new materialism and mediation theory on technology as a conceptual tool and emphasizing materialities, sociotechnical entanglements and the constitutive role of technology, this study examines the ways in which the body, technology, and politics are interrelated. Following the perspective of Science and Technology Studies (STS), it aims to enact the meanings of the body and technologies in different sites as a research method in itself, and in this context, the sites to be explored within the scope of the research were determined as the relationship of the subject with his/her own body (1), the relationship of the patient with the physician (2) and the relationship of the citizen with the state (3). The research has investigated the processes of embodiment and political subjectification on different sites through e-Nabız, by deeply engaging with the experiences of the subjects who are experiencing these processes themselves. Accordingly, the field study was conducted with a semi-structured in-depth interview method. During the field study, a total of 30 people, 20 of whom were patients/users and 10 of whom were physicians, were interviewed and the interviews were conducted online. The main question of the research is how the meanings of the body and the relationship of the subject with power are reconstructed in different sites through e-Nabız. Based on the findings of the field, it was argued that in Turkey, through the mediation of e-Nabız, a new, rather digital, encounter area was opened up between the citizen and the state, that new subject positions corresponding to this new form of engagement are constructed in this new encounter area, therefore, this new encounter field both points to a new version for power and also points to new embodiment and subjectification processes for subjects.