TY - JOUR
T1 - Entangled temporalities: Ghana's national biometric identity registration project
AU - Thiel, Alena
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Biometric identity registration technologies are spreading throughout the world. Developing countries in particular, have recently been seen to construct biometric population registers in partnership with international donor organizations. This article traces the temporal entanglements produced by transnational policy mobilities in the inception and implementation of Ghana's national biometric identity registration project. In 2008, Ghana famously introduced the first biometric banking system in Africa. Yet, the e-zwich payment system marked only the first step towards the current ‘craze’ for biometric identity registration in the West African country. Among the numerous biometric identity documents circulating in Ghana's national and subnational institutions, the national Ghanacard is the most interesting identity registration project in the country, both in terms of its population-wide reach and the complex constellation of institutions, actors and ideas competing within the project. With a focus on the temporalities of policymaking, the article examines the project's fundamental future orientation, the temporal context of its production with its specific possibilities of imagining and acting upon certain matters, and the rhythms and schedules of project implementation. By doing so, it draws attention to some of the ways in which competing sets of ideas shape large-scale investments in technology and infrastructure in Africa.
AB - Biometric identity registration technologies are spreading throughout the world. Developing countries in particular, have recently been seen to construct biometric population registers in partnership with international donor organizations. This article traces the temporal entanglements produced by transnational policy mobilities in the inception and implementation of Ghana's national biometric identity registration project. In 2008, Ghana famously introduced the first biometric banking system in Africa. Yet, the e-zwich payment system marked only the first step towards the current ‘craze’ for biometric identity registration in the West African country. Among the numerous biometric identity documents circulating in Ghana's national and subnational institutions, the national Ghanacard is the most interesting identity registration project in the country, both in terms of its population-wide reach and the complex constellation of institutions, actors and ideas competing within the project. With a focus on the temporalities of policymaking, the article examines the project's fundamental future orientation, the temporal context of its production with its specific possibilities of imagining and acting upon certain matters, and the rhythms and schedules of project implementation. By doing so, it draws attention to some of the ways in which competing sets of ideas shape large-scale investments in technology and infrastructure in Africa.
KW - Biometric Identity Registration
KW - Transnational Policy Mobilities
KW - Ghanacard
KW - Temporalities of Policymaking
KW - Technological Infrastructure Investment
KW - Biometric Identity Registration
KW - Transnational Policy Mobilities
KW - Ghanacard
KW - Temporalities of Policymaking
KW - Technological Infrastructure Investment
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8322.12321
DO - 10.1111/1467-8322.12321
M3 - Journal article
VL - 3
SP - 3
EP - 5
JO - Anthropology Today
JF - Anthropology Today
IS - 5
ER -