Identity Securitisation and Biometric Citizenship

Abstract

In the previous two chapters, we looked at some aspects of biopolitical dimensions and bioethical implications of biometric technology and identity systems. Our discussion has been primarily focused on the domain of asylum and on the ways in which biometric technology functions as a means of managing the identities of those who are held within such a domain of power and control, affecting their embodied existence, as a result. In this chapter, we shall shift the attention towards the figure of the ‘citizen’ in order to explore other aspects of the interplay between biometrics and identity management and how this interplay relates to the ideal and practice of citizenship, by looking at practices that are less exceptional and more routine than those of asylum. As the title of this chapter suggests, security is a key concept that underpins the triad of biometrics, identity and citizenship. And like many other concepts, security too has undergone many transformations in its meaning, use and function. As such, it is worth starting off the discussion by considering some of these transformations. This will also help us pave the way for analysing and understanding what is involved in the process of securitising identity through biometric technology as well as the impact of such a process on the concept and practice of citizenship.