Discussed by Edward Higgs, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, and Jonny Steinberg.
A two round-tables event chaired by Ricardo Soares de Oliveira and Miles Larmer.
Book description:
In the context of a global biometric turn, this book investigates processes of legal identification in Africa ‘from below,’ asking what this means for the relationship between citizens and the state. Almost half of the population of the African continent is thought to lack a legal identity, and many states see biometric technology as a reliable and efficient solution to the problem. However, this book shows that biometrics, far from securing identities and avoiding fraud or political distrust, can even participate in reinforcing exclusion and polarizing debates on citizenship and national belonging. It highlights the social and political embedding of legal identities and the resilience of the documentary state. Drawing on empirical research conducted across 14 countries, the book documents the processes, practices, and meanings of legal identification in Africa from the 1950s right up to the biometric boom. Beyond the classic opposition between surveillance and recognition, it demonstrates how analysing the social uses of IDs and tools of identification can give a fresh account of the state at work, the practices of citizenship, and the role of bureaucracy in the writing of the self in African societies.
This book will be of an important reference for students and scholars of African studies, politics, human security, and anthropology and the sociology of the state.
It is the outcome of a five years long collective research sponsored by the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) entitled “The Social Life of Identity Documents in Africa” coordinated by Séverine Awenengo-Dalberto and Richard Banégas, who co-edited the book, which gathers contributions from twenty-five authors.
Programme of the book launch:
This event is co-hosted by the African Studies Centre, the OxPo programme, and the Maison Française d’Oxford.
The main arguments of the book and specific chapters will first be presented by the co-editor Richard Banégas (Professor at Sciences Po – CERI), and two contributors: Jeanne Bouyat (Postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford – DPIR) and Romane Da Cunha Dupuy (PhD candidate at Sciences Po – CERI). The presentations will then be discussed by Edward Higgs (Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex – Department of History), Ricardo Soares de Oliveira (Professor at the University of Oxford – DPIR), and Jonny Steinberg (Senior Lecturer at Yale University, Council on African Studies).
Venue: St Antony’s College – Nissan Centre Lecture Theatre.
10.30-12.00: Presentation of the book Identification and Citizenship in Africa.
Speakers: Richard Banégas, Jeanne Bouyat, Romane Da Cunha Dupuy (tbc). Chair : Ricardo Soares de Oliveira.
12.00-13.00: Lunch break and photo exhibition of the collective research “The Social Life of Identity Documents in Africa”.
13.00-14.30: Collective discussion of the book Identification and Citizenship in Africa.
Speakers: Edward Higgs, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Jonny Steinberg. Chair: Miles Larmer.
Venue: Maison Française d’Oxford – Salon.
18.00-19.30: Wine and Cheese reception.
