Par : Georges Macaire Eyenga, Ga\u00ebtan Omgba Mimboe, Joseph Fabrice Bindzi
\nDans Critique internationale 2022\/4 (N\u00b0\u00a097), pages 113 \u00e0 134<\/p>\n
Les crises d\u2019identification des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s postcoloniales ne portent pas toujours sur la d\u00e9finition de l\u2019\u00e9tranger, du marginal ou du passant. Elles ne renvoient pas non plus aux luttes ethniques ou aux exp\u00e9riences subjectives de d\u00e9finition de soi. En revanche, elles sont souvent le r\u00e9sultat de probl\u00e8mes techniques et structurels, de politiques publiques \u00e9triqu\u00e9es et d\u2019exp\u00e9rimentations technologiques hasardeuses comme l\u2019atteste le projet d\u2019identification biom\u00e9trique au Cameroun. En effet, le lancement d\u2019un programme de fabrication de nouvelles cartes d\u2019identit\u00e9 biom\u00e9triques a eu pour r\u00e9sultat que beaucoup de nationaux sont devenus des \u00ab\u00a0sans-papiers\u00a0\u00bb dans leur propre pays. La crise d\u2019identit\u00e9 civile qui s\u2019est ensuivie est due autant \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chec du projet de modernisation de l\u2019\u00c9tat qu\u2019aux pratiques individuelles oscillant entre manipulations des identit\u00e9s et non-retrait des documents produits. Face au d\u00e9ficit de reconnaissance des individus, les d\u00e9poss\u00e9d\u00e9s identitaires se mobilisent pour d\u00e9fendre leur droit \u00e0 l\u2019identit\u00e9 civile.<\/p>\n
Being Undocumented at Home? The Mishaps of Biometric Enrolment in Cameroon<\/em><\/p>\n Crises of identification in postcolonial societies are not always about the definition of the foreigner, the marginal, or the passer-by. Nor do they refer to ethnic struggles or subjective experiences of self-definition. Instead, they are often the result of technical and structural problems, narrow public policies, and risky technological experiments, as the project of biometric identification in Cameroon demonstrates. Indeed, the launch of a programme to produce new biometric identity cards has resulted in many nationals becoming \u201cundocumented\u201d in their own country. The ensuing civil identity crisis results as much from the failure of the state\u2019s modernisation project as from individual practices that oscillate between manipulation of identities and non-withdrawal of the documents produced. Faced with the lack of recognition of individuals, the dispossessed are mobilising to defend their right to a civil identity.<\/p>\n