Presentation short abstract

This paper examines the low-lying island nation of Tuvalu’s initiative to preserve statehood in the face of the effects of global warming by becoming a "digital nation". Based on ethnographic engagement in Tuvalu, it asks what sovereignty "on the cloud" may look like for Tuvaluans.

Presentation long abstract

This paper proposes a reflection on digital sovereignty in the context of the ecological crisis, drawing on ethnographic research in Tuvalu, a low-lying island nation in the Pacific. Reaching a maximum height of 4.5 meters above sea level, the archipelago is at risk of becoming entirely uninhabitable – which would make the country the first to physically lose its entire territory. In this scenario, Tuvalu’s government has launched an initiative designed to make it the “world’s first digital nation” with the goal of retaining state sovereignty in the absence of land. Technically, the initiative pivots around three components: the digitization of state bureaucracy, the uploading of a virtual rendering of the archipelago online, and the creation of a “Digital Ark” with digitized items of Tuvaluan culture and traditions. Analytically, however, Tuvalu’s project can be understood as a strategy to anchor the fate of the country’s institutional status to the interests of a wide range of state and non-state actors, including conventional regional geopolitical players – such as Australia, Taiwan, and Japan – and tech corporations – so far, Google and Starlink. Additionally, central to Tuvalu’s endeavor is the attempt to retain control over its 750,000 km² Exclusive Economic Zone, decoupling it from the continued existence of physical territory. Reflecting on the political economy of Tuvalu’s sovereignty, the paper focuses on the territorialization of the ocean entailed by Tuvalu’s project to deterritorialize statehood.