230156 SE The 'Same' Person? Past, Present, and Future of Identification Practices and Techniques (2012S)

Which features constitute individual identity? When is a person 'the same one'? How can authorities verify that someone is who she or he pretends to be? What measures are deemed suitable to prevent identity fraud?
Debates about the identification of individuals, data gatherings established by governmental and non-governmental organizations, registration processes, the surveillance of public and private spaces, and the invasion of privacy have brought forward academic interest in the negotiation, implementation and application of identification practices and techniques (e.g. identity papers, fingerprinting, DNA, face recognition). This interest has gained even more topicality with the ongoing computerization of identification and surveillance practices.
The seminar will address questions of how persons and their (deviant) behavior were identified in the past, how individuals are identified in present scenarios, and how their identification in the future is imagined. The question 'Who is this person?' always involves the question 'What kind of person is this?'. This means that the identification of individuals is closely linked to categorizing them into various collective identities. In this respect, the history of identification practices is also a history of categories and collectivities.