Biometrics Bodies, Technologies, Biopolitics [Hardcover]

Biometric technologies, such as finger- or facial-scan, are being deployed across a variety of social contexts in order to facilitate and guarantee identity verification and authentication. In the post-9/11 world, biometric technologies have experienced an extraordinary period of growth as concerns about security and screening have increased. This book analyses biometric systems in terms of the application of biopolitical power  corporate, military and governmental  on the human body. It deploys cultural theory in examining the manner in which biometric technologies constitute the body as a target of surveillance and as a data-information object. The book thereby provides a comprehensive overview and critical analysis of both the local and global ramifications of biometric technologies.

Introduction: Biopolitics of Biometrics  1. A Genealogy of Biometric Technologies  2. The Biometrics of Infrastructural Whiteness  3. Identity Dominance : Biometrics, Biosurveillance, Terrorism and War  4. Identity Fraud and Imposture: Biometrics, the Metaphysics of Presence and the Alleged Liveness of the Live Evidentiary Body  5. Neurotechnologies of Truth: Brain Fingerprintings Neurognomics and No Lie MRIs Digital Phrenology.  Epilogue.

Joseph Pugliese is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical and Cultural Studies  at Macquarie University.