As the chapters in the present collection show, the history of the techniques and
technologies of identification is a young and vigorous field of research. The present volume …

Any work on the history of identification begins with a narrative, 1 and this one is no
exception. In the middle of the sixteenth century, in the French Pyrenees village of Artigat, an …

The verification of identity has been bound up in state attempts to control people's mobility
for many centuries, 1 but took on additional significance in the twentieth century, as a result …

IN FRANCE THE HISTORY OF IDENTIFICATION has become something of a research field
in itself. Where the post-Revolutionary period is concerned, it has developed around two …

Identity recognition of individuals by the groups they are born into or wish to affiliate
themselves with has been a universal human experience but any registration documentation …

Ever since the eighteenth century at least, the French state has been manufacturing
identities through an accumulation of knowledge, know-hows, and processes that have …

Thanks to historical and sociological research, the material aspects of the 'manufacturing'of
individual identities by the French national authorities are well-known at present. 1 Indeed …

Biometrics is often described asthe next big thingin information technology'. Rather than IT
renderingthe body irrelevant to identity–a mistaken idea tobegin with–the coupling of …

AROUND THE WORLD STATES REQUIRE that their citizens register as tax-payers, property
owners, school students, patients, drivers, welfare recipients, and insured workers. The …

Few artefacts capture the history of surveillance better than an identity card. In fact, the
process of establishing identity predates the card, where throughout history the registration …