About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCambridge University Press

ISBN-101107434890

ISBN-139781107434899

eBay Product ID (ePID)203475140

Product Key Features

Number of Pages266 Pages

Publication NameBiometric State : The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2016

SubjectAnthropology / Physical, History, Civics & Citizenship, World / African

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaPolitical Science, Technology & Engineering, Social Science

AuthorKeith Breckenridge

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight14.1 Oz

Item Length9.1 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2014-022526

Reviews'This fascinating and deeply researched study of the transnational politics of biometric measurement and surveillance places South Africa in a global field force of scientific and technological experimentation. Beginning with Galton and Gandhi, it shows how the power of technology can be deployed for many different reasons, and often with surprising outcomes.' Saul Dubow, Queen Mary, University of London

Dewey Edition23

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal323.44830968

Table Of ContentIntroduction: the global biometric arena; 1. Science of empire: the South African origins and objects of Galtonian eugenics; 2. Asiatic despotism: Edward Henry on the Witwatersrand; 3. Gandhi's biometric entanglement: fingerprints, Satyagraha and the global politics of Hind Swaraj; 4. No will to know: biometric registration and the limited curiosity of the gatekeeper state; 5. Verwoerd's bureau of proof: the Apartheid Bewysburo and the end of documentary government; 6. Galtonian reversal: apartheid and the making of biometric citizenship; Epilogue: empire and the mimetic fantasy; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

SynopsisBiometric identification and registration systems are being proposed by governments and businesses across the world. Surprisingly they are under most rapid, and systematic, development in countries in Africa and Asia. In this groundbreaking book, Keith Breckenridge traces how the origins of the systems being developed in places like India, Mexico, Nigeria and Ghana can be found in a century-long history of biometric government in South Africa, with the South African experience of centralized fingerprint identification unparalleled in its chronological depth and demographic scope. He shows how empire, and particularly the triangular relationship between India, the Witwatersrand and Britain, established the special South African obsession with biometric government, and shaped the international politics that developed around it for the length of the twentieth century. He also examines the political effects of biometric registration systems, revealing their consequences for the basic workings of the institutions of democracy and authoritarianism., Biometric identification and registration systems are being proposed by governments and businesses across the world. The book explores how, for a century, South Africa has served as a site for global experiments in biometric identification and government, and examines the consequences and effects of these systems for democracy and authoritarianism.

LC Classification NumberJQ1983.B74 2014