Kainen Bell

My research follows the work of digital rights activists and organizers of anti-surveillance campaigns in Brazil who protest the use of facial recognition cameras for monitoring public security. I aim to learn how Afro-Brazilians collaborate and practice solidarity to resist and prevent the abuse of surveillance technologies in their communities. My research involves using Critical Data Studies, Science & Technology Studies, Decolonial Methods, and Community-Based Research. Ultimately, I aim to develop frameworks for collaboration between communities, activists, and academics.

Field Exam Area: Critical Surveillance Studies, Global Science and Technology Studies (STS), Community Informatics

• 2024-2025 Graduate Research Fellow, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
• 2024 Summer Graduate Research Fellow (Tinker Foundation), Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. 
• 2024 Global Policy Fellow, Institute for Technology and Society (ITS) in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
• 2023 Wikimedia Knowledge Race and Education Fellow
• 2023 Global Intersections Grant Recipient  
• 2023 Harvard Science Technology & Society (STS) Summer School
• 2022 Summer Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
• 2021 Graduate College Fellowship
• 2021 Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
• 2021 Summer Predoctoral Institute Fellow

Bell, K. (forthcoming). Data Activism in Action: Stories from Brazil's Anti-Surveillance Campaign. Invited book chapter for the "De Gruyter Handbook on Critical Data Studies."

Bell, K.*, Rojas-Alvarez, J.*, Chin, C.*, Chan, A* & Smith, T.* (forthcoming). Unstable by default: The public-private framework in broadband access for vulnerable populations in the Midwest U.S. Invited journal article for the Welfare After Digitalization conference (*: equal contribution).

Bell, K. (2023). Resistance storytelling: Anti-Surveillance campaign in Recife, Brazil. Tierra Común Network, Resisting Data Colonialism – A Practical Intervention (pp. 63-68). Institute of Network Cultures. ISBN 9789083328263.

Bell, K. (June 2024). "Resisting Digital Surveillance Technologies: Grassroots Movements in Brazil" Oral presentation and paper at Latin American Studies Association 2024 Conference, Bogota, Colombia.

Bell, K., Rojas-Alvarez, J., Chin, C., Smith, T., & Chan, A. (2022). Unstable by default: The public-private framework in broadband access for vulnerable populations in the Midwest U.S. Welfare After Digitalization conference, Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Bell, K. (2022). "Automating Facial Recognition in Brazilian Airports" Oral session presented at the Federal University of Pernambuco - Recife, Brazil.

Bell, K. (2021). "Automating Facial Recognition in Brazilian Airports" Oral session presented at the University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign 2021 Summer Symposium, Urbana, IL.

Bell, K. (2018). "How Technology and Innovation Help Brazilian NGOs Become More Sustainable" Oral session presented at Fulbright Regional Conference, Renaca, Chile.