Sensorized Health Interventions in Marginalized Communities: The Role of Surveillant Assemblages in Maintaining Compliance Within Disaster-Affected Healthcare Systems

This paper uses findings from two separate cases from different extended disaster situations: Hurricane Katrina's long-term healthcare impact and Community Health Workers’ use to access minority communities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the height of COVID-19. We explore using sensorized health interventions to increase positive health outcomes for at-risk communities and how these practices can subjugate the very people they intend to help. These cases are examined through the lenses of data doubles and surveillant assemblage. Acts of noncompliance to medical data collection standards and recommended interventions against one’s body create subtle forms of dehumanization, a justification for further intervention, and a form of institutional control. We show how this plays out in diverse ways in extended disaster contexts.