A New Development Technology? South Asian Biometrics and the Promise of State Security and Economic Opportunity

Abstract

AbstractThis paper examines the intra‐ and inter‐state usage of biometrics as a “new” technology of development and neoliberal security in South Asia. We view developmental use of biometrics as a tool for integrating the vast majority of poor and marginalized people as visible and calculable economic subjects. We examine the ways in which biometrics translates people into data for the purposes of state, security, and economic legibility. In this paper, we explore biometrics at the intersection of geopolitics, biopolitics, and development to highlight the promise and pitfalls of “technological progress” as a new development strategy.