Breckenridge, Keith. 2014. Biometric State: The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Text

Abstract: "A groundbreaking study of South Africa's role as a site for global experiments in biometric identification throughout the twentieth century."

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Creative Commons Licence

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Contributed date

August 8, 2018 - 8:02pm

Critical Commentary

AO: This 2014 book by Keith Breckenridge shows how the South African obsession with Francis Galton’s universal fingerprint identity registration served as a 20th century incubator for the current systems of biometric citizenship being developed throughout the South.

Cite as

Keith Breckenridge, "Breckenridge, Keith. 2014. Biometric State: The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press.", contributed by Angela Okune, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 8 August 2018, accessed 21 November 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/breckenridge-keith-2014-biometric-state-global-politics-identification-and-surveillance