Bodies as Evidence : Security, Knowledge, and Power

Nils Zurawski, Mark Maguire, Ursula Rao

• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781478091646
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

From biometrics to predictive policing, contemporary security relies on sophisticated scientific evidence-gathering and knowledge-making focused on the human body. Bringing together new anthropological perspectives on the complexities of security in the present moment, the contributors to Bodies as Evidence reveal how bodies have become critical sources of evidence that is organized and deployed to classify, recognize, and manage human life. Through global case studies that explore biometric identification, border control, forensics, predictive policing, and counterterrorism, the contributors show how security discourses and practices that target the body contribute to new configurations of knowledge and power. At the same time, margins of error, unreliable technologies, and a growing suspicion of scientific evidence in a "post-truth" era contribute to growing insecurity, especially among marginalized populations.Contributors. Carolina Alonso-Bejarano, Gregory Feldman, Francisco J. Ferrándiz, Daniel M. Goldstein, Ieva Jusionyte, Amade M'charek, Mark Maguire, Joseph P. Masco, Ursula Rao, Antonius C. G. M. Robben, Joseba Zulaika, Nils Zurawski

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Introduction: Bodies as Evidence
• 1. The Truth of the Error: Making Identity and Security through Biometric Discrimination
• 2. Injured by the Border: Security Buildup, Migrant Bodies, and Emergency Response in Southern Arizona
• 3. E-Terrify: Securitized Immigration and Biometric Surveillance in the Workplace
• 4. “Dead-Bodies-at-the-Border”: Distributed Evidence and Emerging Forensic Infrastructure for Identification
• 5. The Transitional Lives of Crimes against Humanity: Forensic Evidence under Changing Political Circumstances
• 6. Policing Future Crimes
• 7. “Intelligence” and “Evidence”: Sovereign Authority and the Differences That Words Make
• 8. The Secrecy/Threat Matrix
• 9. What Do You Want? Evidence and Fantasy in the War on Terror
• Conclusion: Discontinuities and Diversity
• Contributors
• Index