Dr. Midori Ogasawara

Biography

Midori Ogasawara joined the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria as an Assistant Professor in January 2021. She previously held the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Ottawa. Her academic interests focus on the social consequences of surveillance, identification, and personal data, particularly in relation to biometrics and information communication technologies. Ogasawara's postdoctoral project investigates the collaborative relationship between security intelligence agencies and big data corporations, analyzing how this collaboration is redrawing legal boundaries of mass surveillance in Canada. She completed her PhD in Sociology at Queen's University in 2018, where her dissertation explored the historical trajectory of biometric technologies in the context of Japan’s colonial past, specifically focusing on Japanese identification systems in occupied Northeast China (1931-1945). Ogasawara's extensive research includes archival ethnographic work and interviews with survivors of colonial violence. Her findings have contributed to various publications and she is the author of three books and multiple articles. Previously, she was a staff writer for Japan's national newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, where she engaged in investigative journalism on surveillance technologies.

Research Interests

Experience