On (not) mattering in connections: How geofencing reinscribes the exclusions of logistical capitalism

This thesis proposes that the connections made between a networking apparatus and the objects it captures inscribe specific socio-spatially constituted relations that are always already exclusionary of certain other socio-spatialities. Specifically, the connections of logistical media reproduce the incomplete ordering of land, labour, and life that logistical capitalism demands. This thesis develops the concept of the logistical algorithm in order to map how geofencing apparatuses, in their (re)inscription of particular socio-spatial histories and relations, produce incomplete connections. This thesis therefore reads geofencing algorithms and their deployments in/as apparatuses across logistical geographies — namely, the Port of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, and the Canada-US border. As logistical media, these apparatuses spatiotemporally measure and manage the movement of freight trucks. This thesis therefore asks: what goes into the making of a connection-as-relation, and what might have to be excluded from that making in order to make connections work for logistical capitalism?