Drone-Cinema, Data Practices, and the Narrative of IHL

Abstract

This article explores how advanced military technologies and data practices reshape and reassert a particular, Western-centric, narrative of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Analysing the dissemination of this narrative through popular culture, with a focus on he 2015 British thriller Eye in the Sky, I explore how the representation of IHL data practices reaffirms a humanitarian narrative of IHL. As a popular culture product – and one that is embraced by senior IHL experts and professionals – Eye in the Sky reflects and participates in the ethical, legal, and political debates about advanced military technologies, and presents mundane data practices as a system of knowledge production through which IHL exercises its jurisdiction over facts, people, time, and space. In particular, the article analyses how Eye in the Sky’s representations of IHL’s data practices strengthen and reinforce a particular IHL narrative, which is consistent with Western countries’ narrative about their existing bureaucracies of killing. Based on Interdisciplinary analysis of socio-legal studies (SLS), Science and Technology Studies (STS), and culture and media literature, this article answers the following three questions: (i) who is given the power to speak IHL (and who is not)? (ii) to whom is IHL speaking? and (iii) how do data practices shape IHL’s jurisdiction? The article concludes that Eye in the Sky speaks international law through the voices of drone-owning nations, and is directed to their mass publics, legitimising data-centred violence. At the same time, it disguises normative choices as inevitable, and erases African decision-makers, communities, and perspectives.

Popularização da Ciência na Perspectiva CTS: Uma Revisão de Literatura

“…4) Papel das associações científicas para a comunicação externa da ciência (Delicado et al 2014). 5) Análise da cultura popular por meio de filmes (Krebs, 2022). 6) Análise da participação pública em atividade de comunidades e culturas locais (Possik et al 2013;Nielsen et al 2015;García-Guerrero & Lewenstein, 2020).…”

Popularização da Ciência na Perspectiva CTS: Uma Revisão de Literatura

“…4) The role of scientific associations in external science communication (Delicado et al, 2014). 5) Analysis of popular culture through films (Krebs, 2022). 6) Analysis of public participation in activities of local communities and cultures (Possik et al, 2013;Nielsen et al, 2015;García-Guerrero & Lewenstein, 2020).…”