Obfuscated democracy? Chelsea Manning and the politics of knowledge curation

Garnett, Philip and Hughes, Sarah (2019) Obfuscated democracy? Chelsea Manning and the politics of knowledge curation. Political Geography, 68. pp. 23-33. ISSN 0962-6298

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Abstract

This paper interrogates the attention that Chelsea Manning has received within the academy. It begins from the observation that despite being responsible for the largest classified document leak, work within Political Geography and International Relations that engages with this data remains notably scant. This claim emerges from a systematic search of peer-reviewed materials using WikiLeaks materials as their empirical base, compiling a database of papers written about Manning. We then examine the possible reasons for this absence, focusing upon a series of what we term ‘obfuscating practices’ by which state actors complicate access to publicly accessible knowledge, including access to the US Army's Freedom of Information Request Website, and the court documents from Manning's court-martial. Finally, we look at claims of an embargo around the publication of academic work in this area, conceptualising this as a politics of paranoia and commenting upon the implications of this for knowledge curation within the academy.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chelsea Manning, WikiLeaks, Paranoia, Democracy, Research access
Subjects:	F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences L200 Politics L700 Human and Social Geography
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2019 16:27
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2019 16:27
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41354

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