The Ghost Resident: A Hauntology of Data Invisibility in the Dutch BRP Data Assemblage

Abstract

This thesis explores the concept of the ghost resident, a notion that emerges within the Dutch governmental data assemblage to describe an individual who occupies a residential home but is not registered in the central population register. My analysis explores the notion of the ghost resident as a construction – one that exposes unregistered residents to a system that categorizes them as criminals through discursive and sociotechnical practices. The research departs from a critical exploration of anticipatory governance platform Zicht op Ondermijning, and explores the Dutch data assemblage which collects – or rather, I argue, makes – the data used by this platform. Zicht op Ondermijning constructs the notion of ghost habitation through administrative vacancy, meaning that occupancy is defined through data, rather than physically checking whether people occupy these residential addresses. As such, it is important to critically examine the categorizations and indicators selected to make up the data that represents real individuals. I call attention to different social groups which are rendered administratively invisible and potentially most affected by this construction, and I argue that this data assemblage can be considered a system of cultural denial.