The Documentation of Individual Identity: Historical and Comparative Perspectives since 1500

The American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting will take place in Philadelphia on 2-6 December 2009, and a panel has been proposed on the theme of ‘Political Identities, Legal Identifications and Anthropological Practice’. While figuring issues of identity and identification in their broadest senses, there seems to be some scope for documentary approaches, especially in terms of the legal stabilisation and reification of various identity categories and their recognition by different institutions. The deadline for 250-word abstracts is 15 March 2009; for full details of the session and how to apply, see H-Net.