Vision, Faces, Identities: Technologies of Recognition

Perle Møhl

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    Abstract

    The chapter focuses on the use of facial recognition in automated border control, a technology that verifies ID through visual analysis of facial traits, as well as procedures for identifying threatening objects in luggage - in both cases, by adding up multiple minute details to construct a ‘plausible story’ about the traveller. The chapter compares algorithmic and human sensory work and procedures of recognition through examples, and discusses how border guards and automated systems and interact and how they mutually format each other’s vision, as well as processes of visual enskillment and deskillment. It discusses the premises for recognition and identification and the authority vested in ID-photos, concluding that all it takes to pass the border is to sufficiently resemble a small ID-photo.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Biometric Border World : Technology, Bodies and Identities on the Move
    EditorsKaren Fog Olwig, Kristina Grünenberg, Perle Møhl, Anja Simonsen
    Place of PublicationLondon & New York
    PublisherRoutledge
    Publication date2020
    Pages83-99
    Chapter3
    ISBN (Print)978-0-367-19968-6
    ISBN (Electronic)978-0-367-80846-4
    Publication statusPublished - 2020
    SeriesRoutledge Studies in Anthropology

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