On the methods of the State: Population censuses and identification numbers as forces of subjectivation
State methods for enumerating and identifying people constitute politically charged sites of technical expertise. Scholarship in history, sociology, anthropology, and related fields has already established the population census as one such method of great significance for the state. In the Nordic countries, the personal identification number is equally significant because of the key role it plays in national data practices.
In this talk, I analyse population censuses and Nordic identification numbers by drawing on two assertions from the study of methods within the field of Science & Technology Studies: Methods are performative, and they enact multiple objects and realities. First, I discuss the population census and related methods of population statistics based on the findings from a collaborative ethnographic study conducted as part of a five-year research project, “Peopling Europe: How Data Make a People (ARITHMUS)”. Then, I present my recent and ongoing work on Nordic identification numbers and their internal tensions. For each case, I reflect on my own methodological choices of ethnographic fieldwork and document-based studies, and I discuss how analysing these technical procedures as forces of subjectivation can help us unpack the embedded social and political assumptions.
I conclude by arguing that these methods of the state have tremendous subjectivating power: As they seek to address individuals and make populations coherent for register-building and administration, they also create new ways of being, living, and thinking.
Baki Cakici is an associate professor in the Technologies in Practice research group at the IT University of Copenhagen. In his research, he draws on theories from the field of science and technology studies. His research interests include surveillance, politics of numbers, digital state infrastructures, and the history of computing. You can read more about Baki here: https://pure.itu.dk/portal/en/persons/baki-cakici