About me
I am Shivangi Narayan, a sociologist, writer, and researcher working at the intersection of technology, society, and security in India. I teach Sociology at the Thapar School of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Patiala, where I engage students in critical discussions on digital surveillance, policing, caste, and urban governance.
Research Focus: Technology, Surveillance, and Security in India
My research explores how digital technologies—particularly artificial intelligence (AI), facial recognition, predictive policing, and CCTV surveillance—are used by the state and police forces as instruments of control, especially over marginalised communities defined by caste, religion, and gender. These tools are often presented as neutral innovations, but in practice they reproduce and deepen existing social inequalities.
Current work: 'Women's Safety,' Tech-Securitisation, and Data Politics
In addition to examining state-led surveillance, I study the increasingly blurred lines between public and private security infrastructures in India. My work investigates how a growing culture of fear and distrust in government institutions leads to the widespread acceptance of private sector involvement in urban security, particularly in Indian cities. This is central to my current research on society management apps such as MyGate, which are popular in gated communities across metropolitan India and function as everyday tools of data capture, algorithmic regulation, and digital enclosure.
I also study policies related to “women’s safety” in India, critically analysing how these discourses are shaped by political narratives and how they are appropriated by tech-security companies to expand surveillance, collect data without consent, and drive AI-led securitisation in the name of protection.
Recognition
My work has been cited in Reuters, Wired, Rest of World, Scroll.in, and other international platforms. I was awarded the Early Career Researcher Award, 2024 by the Surveillance Studies Network for my article “CCTV and the Criminal City”, published in Surveillance & Society Journal, 2024. I am the author of Predictive Policing and the Construction of the ‘Criminal’ published in 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan, London. I contribute regularly to global debates on algorithmic governance, technology and social justice in South Asia.
This site showcases my research, writing, media engagements, and teaching—and invites critical conversations on the political and everyday life of technology in contemporary India.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ShwangsNarayan