User:Eastwood/research writing

2017

Passports

The Cold Read

On cold inspection, the Passport is an identification document that records international travel. It is made up of various high and low technologies, and government, and visual national identifications. Not only does it record international travel, but is designed to facilitate it. By not only allowing access to countries, it identifies you as a citizen of a particular country, that if in need, may come to your aid while abroad.

As an identifying document, it provides a visual representation of the owner, their name, gender, birthplace and date, nationality (according to the current document) and the duration of the document's own identification and validity.

Iconography of the issuing nation is represented throughout, in either forms of images, design, and/or colour scheme. In cases where relevant, information is demarcated in the national language (or languages) and often(?) English.

The benign identification document, designed for international travel, that most un-objectively identifies the owner so as to allow them safe travel throughout our globalised world. The history and the ontology of this technology as both an object that acts, is acted upon, and is acted through stimulates questions of mobility, identity, technology, nation, and governance.

Were does my Passport come from?

Passports can generally be simplified into documents that identify an individual, where they might be from and at times give indications to where they might be going.

Despite their ubiquity amongst international travellers (with some exception to citizens of the European Union), their existence, nor their history is as standardised as one might believe. Like the individuals they try to identify, their origins are hard to pin down, and have seemingly manifested out of many motivating factors.

In this instance it seems poignant to reference Foucaults methods of genealogical investigation and suggest that it is overly simplistic to suggest any one motivator in regards to the birth of the Passport. As it is not one grand teleological narrative but rather the culmination of many small events, often disparate in nature, that can account for what we know now as the Passport.

The Facilitator

Let us first consider the claim that the passport is a facilitator of movement. The act of facilitation is one that that "make[s] an action or process easy or easier". So then what does the passport make easier for traveller?

Depending on which part of the world you wish to investigate, movement between, or even within nations has been regulated for many reasons. In Medieval times, a nations strength was defined by the number of its followers. It was often considered treason for a civilian of a nation to leave without prior consent of its ruling body. Along side of this, as a result of mercantilism, trade value of nations in regards to output and market value were directly contributed to their populace. The larger the number, the more product the nation could output.

Thus it was not in the best interest of any ruler to loose their subjects. It is recorded that in Portugal in the 1600s, systems were put in place for incoming merchants to register themselves, cargo and any additional passengers on arrival, and for any citizens considering leaving the country, to seek approval, and receive official papers prior to leaving.

A more recent historical background, stems from just after the British abolishment of slavery in response to the loss of workers across their colonies. To counter this, indentured Indian labour was used to bolster colonies that were experiencing shortages. The colonial Indian government developed papers to identify the travelling labourers as "free-men" rather than slaves, and protect their rights in their destination countries. It is here that the first use of the word emigration was used to specifically identify the movement of manual labourers.

The movement of free Indians, as opposed to emigrants, was not monitored during this time however, and it was their arrival in other commonwealth colonies that spurred a discussion around the development of a "Passport". Claims of over-population, no need for labourers, bad acclimatisation to weather, and other factors were cited when trying to suggest a need for a system of control.

It is suggested however, that the from of documentation most closely related to our modern day Passport originated after the first world war alongside the establishment of the League of Nations. It is said that "After the Great War, nations began to require 'documentary substantiation of identity used to register and keep watch over aliens'.

to be continued

Passport Research Notes

Suggestions from peers : Czech Republic : Velvet Revolution - When the Czech republic separated from Slovakia. Side notes read "Progressive" and "Manacle"

Whare are general passport application processes. The case where it was easier and cheaper to change your name by depol, get a new passport than to purchase a new ticket with Ryanair.

Suggestion to create a subjective archive of my family movement. Look at my family's history in relationship to world history specifically in regards to mobility and national diplomacies.

Infinite Citizenship : Giuditta Vendrame

Identity and Control : Harrison C. White

Extended Border Control Privileges

eff.org article on the loophole, an example of the overextension affected on a NASA scientist who was part of the Global Entry programme.

Nation Exclusivity

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/16/migrants-scapegoats-ukip-compelling-stories-win-over-xenophobes

Alien's Act

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/01/slovenia-amendments-to-aliens-act-denies-protection-to-refugees/ http://www.refworld.org/docid/4c407cbd2.html

Migration

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/01/left-afghanistan-family-of-nine-arrived-uk-family-of-two

TODO

Reed thoroughly and take notes

Essay Research Suggestions 2

Max: I have been reading a short introduction to Foucault. It is relevant because we talk about control and disciplinary society in this class. Thought it would be handy to look at these in terms of passports. His life is very interesting he didn’t want to be tied down to one definition; opens up to reading F’s life from different perspectives. Archeologist of knowledge. Rather than looking at what a work says and placing it in its context you situate it in its time in order to understand the concepts. [discourse] The technology of language, interpreting it in our time in terms of just the words of that are written […unpack]. This is interesting in relation to the mobility and passport project; identity, classification; Historical thing:

What have you done since last time?

Text: reading F Book, also had a follow up group meeting. Would like to finish the book, re-read it; go back to the history of passports and visas. Take it from a personal place, where I am allowed passage within the work; for my family down 3 generations; to map out their journey. At the time; my gp’s movement during the war; and my greatgarnadp’s escaped the Russian revolution. Seeing what it would have been like for my grandfather to change his nationality. [Karina] You could update this […] in Holland… Where will you be: writing something down: questions I want to address.

Outside:

coding and playing music: both with varying degrees of success. Hopefully with the sound project. Euclidian time – translated into 1 & 0s [explains]. Then you play it like . Euclidian rhythms are currently popular and from these patterns you get polyrhythms, which come from human culture. One can generate African rhythms, for instance. This could be (possibly) performed for DePlayer project. Like the idea of improvising music, to make the score in parallel or after the fact.

CONTROL and DISCIPLINE SOCIETY : https://libcom.org/library/postscript-on-the-societies-of-control-gilles-deleuze

Essay Research Suggestions 1

https://pad.bleu255.com/p/rwrm_notes_06-01-17

started of with passports and identity evolved into idea of national identity, mobility institutionalised

Passports, indentity which evolved into the idea of national identity, mobility,

need to find history of passports phylosophy of identity. movement through World of the family. Political environment.

need to look at a personal point of view look at family and their movement

what information is needed case study on 'nationally diverse' family

where do you come from? is it relevant to make that destinction?

Trump Tolling http://everysecondcounts.eu/

Taiye Selasi: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local https://www.ted.com/talks/taiye_selasi_don_t_ask_where_i_m_from_ask_where_i_m_a_local?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

dna test momondo https://www.momondo.nl/letsopenourworld/ Is your DNA a more genuine distinction of your "nationalities". Is ethnicity related to nationality. Is culture related to nationality?

Ethnocentrism

Overview Effect - seeing the world from outer space https://vimeo.com/55073825

The Space Between Us http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3922818/

Why a passport identity exists? which are the reasons they exists? do they identify us?

Can you look at yourself / your personality and find something 'typically' Australian, South African, Belgian? How family culture can get into your identity?

Italian travelled to Argentina. He felt at home there because of similar culture (many Italians there)

What defines a culture?

Language How does language shape cultural identity? It's also a specific tool. In some countries it's easier to explain food, weather, nature, technology

What was the reason we started having passports? History of passports

History of the visa - started in 1958

Costs of visas Compare difficulties / process of getting a visa Look into reasons why you do / do not need a visa Poland doesn't need a visa to China because they think Poland is still communistic

Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) https://ind.nl

Facebook Tracking

http://dataselfie.it/#/

2016

Essay

Essay : The Silver Bullet

Reading Notes

Collection of notes on things I'm reading/read.

Citizen Lobby : Olsen

Vilém FLUSSER

Talking at the Osnabrück, European Media Art Festival, 1988

POST-HISTORICAL STRUCTURAL TRADITION

Our current form of literacy is no longer sufficient to communicate current concepts concerning our world. To more precisely reflect on our world we are not solely able to explain it with language, neither written or spoken. To understand the world, we are no longer able to rely solely on words, it is necessary to calculate the world.

Vilém Flusser suggests that the only way we are able to reflect on our current existence is through synthetic images. He describes the language of science and mathematics is a visual language of thought through numbers, giving the example of the number two as the representation of a couple or pair. From this he goes on to suggest that the most appropriate tool to facilitate this realisation of synthetic images is through computing. At the time of this interview Flusser claimed that he had not yet seen any examples of this and suggests that we do not know how to yet manipulate the technology.

Flusser explains that before the alphabet images were used to represent the world. Images served to represent non linear mythical thought, a projection of understanding upon the world tied into past present and future. At the invention of the alphabet this non-linear representation of the world gave way to a linear, historically causal and critical method. Now linear, historical thought has been disrupted by a calculative method of thinking, which Flusser likes to call a systemic or structural way of thinking.

Our current revolution can be likened to the revolution that gave us the origin to history. One that returns to a non-linear, image based narrative, that likens to a pre-historical way of thinking. We are now in the process of developing a post-historical structural way of thinking.

Historically the philosophy of image cast a mostly negative opinion of 'the image'. Greek and Jewish (Christian) philosophy and thought considered images either only a copy or simulation of thought and so we have been conditioned to distrust images. However now images should be considered articulations of thought, not mere copies by projection or models. Flusser calls for a new conversation around images.

STRUCTURAL v FUNCTIONAL COMPLEXITY

Systems can be considered complex in 2 ways. Systems with structural complexity and systems with functional complexity. Structurally complex systems are ones that are complex in their construction, or operation but not in their interaction or output. Functionally complex systems are systems can be used in many different ways or has a functional nuance without necessarily being structurally complex.

Flusser gives the comparison between TV (structurally complex) and Chess (functionally complex). The television a technologically complex electronic device that decodes data into visual moving image and sound that is broadcast live to the viewer, is very simple to interact with or manipulate within its set parameters. Chess, a game made up of solely physical objects can be played 100 different ways and have many different outcomes.

As things are being designed more structurally complex without being necessarily functionally complex leads us to become intellectually, aesthetically and ethical less active or even able. It is Flussers analysis that it is not the fault of the systems themselves, but rather the responsibility on the users of the systems to find functional complexity in structurally complex systems.

The importance in doing this is because functionally complex systems encourage creative thought (arguably a calculative way to look at our world) whereas structurally complex systems currently allow us to stagnate in thought.