Kaat Louckx – State-istics and the nation-state

Am Donnerstag, den 28.11.2019, findet die erste Sitzung in diesem Semester im FSP „Dynamiken und Erfahrungen der Globalisierung“ mit der Thematik „Mesurer le monde/ Die Welt vermessen“ statt. Kaat Louckx (Universität Bonn) spricht zu: State-istics and the nation-state Statistics are, as the etymology of the term suggests (state-istics), closely related to the construction or administration of the nation-state. This presentation will discuss the emergence and development of the nation-state through the study of one of the main instruments, used by states to ‚embrace‘ their populations, namely population statistics. In particular, this lecture provides a critical analysis of the conceptual and scientific representations of the forms of belonging to the nation-state as produced in the Belgian (Queteletian) censuses from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. It is argued that the analyses of the interests, techniques and classification schemes of the state-isticians shed light on the inclusion ideals and exclusion mechanisms underlying the Belgian nation-state. These shifting interests and classifications also inform us about the organization and management of the current nation-state.