Digital Epidermalization: Race, Identity and Biometrics

Text Exploration

In this article, the author works to show that biometric technologies, such as those encountered at international borders, help produce and economize race, and that biometric technology is a useful lens for examining this construction of race. The author’s goal is to “engage a critical biometric consciousness.”

To make the argument that race is constructed via biometric technology, the author begins by examining the phrase “digital epidermalization.” Epidermalization is a way of being defined by others based in large part on the skin, as an observer can animate a person linguistically based solely on observation. Digital epidermalization is a way of being defined and animated into existence by others based on the observation of biometrics, an equally flattening form of being defined through a lens of others (while the others, in this case, are largely algorithmic.) International border crossings are unique contexts where that digital epidermalization is activated and is largely normalized, and these are places where a great deal is at stake for this algorithmic definition to be “accurate.”

The author then describes how the military, the private sector, and the state work together to create a “identity-industrial complex,” which demands users (or consumers) of this enterprise to engage in proactive styles of behaviors to manage the way biometrics are used. This, the author argues, is a way for the body to be “worked wholesale” through databases that are often controlled by large corporations working to support government. When a person engages with these companies, they are encouraged to act in an entrepreneurial manner—they should behave as if, or at least feel, that they have control over the process. The primary service touchpoint of engaging with these companies is through the application to gain identity documents, and a user can be “better” or “worse” at completing that documentation. Navigating and enrolling in a trusted traveler program like CLEAR requires work, and presents a feeling of consumer-style choice.

Biometrics rely on the body itself as a part of the surveillance system, and there is a history of the body acting as a transfer or holding tool for someone participating (often against their will) in the system. The author briefly observes that branding of slaves was a “stamp of commodity,” and became a datapoint, similar to a modern QR code, UPC code or passport, to open or close doors. A brand indicating ownership, and clearly constructed race through a form of technological tracking.

The post September 11th push for a Canadian national identity card is representative of how political discourse further builds a relationship between race and biometric technology, and continues to construct race. Quoting extensively from the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration meeting in 2003, the author argues that those select-few with the right to speak at such a forum leverage unique choices in discourse to connect identity and integrity with terrorism, travel documents, and proof. The committee leadership connects biometrics with citizenship rather than with race, and outright rejects race as a part of biometrics at all.

The author concludes by asking, “how do we understand the body once it is made into data?” The question isn’t answered, but asking it underscores the way biometrics transform the physical being into political and racist constructs. These constructs are most vividly presented at high-pressure state and military touchpoints, such as a border crossing. The author summarizes the text by warning that these types of international edges are embedded in digital epidermalization, and are where “the state does its racial and gendered purging.”