FWF-funded research project „Categorizing, Registering and Reporting of Mobility and Stay“; Sigrid Wadauer, Univ. of Vienna (Web)
Time:: 11.-12.02.2027
Venue: Univ. of Vienna
Proposals by: 31.07.2026
Monitoring mobility and keeping records of the population and/or individuals present in a state’s territory seems an indispensable element of modern statehood and knowledge-based governance. However, different countries used different criteria, set different priorities, and employed different methods and tools to register and locate people. Even today, there is no universal understanding of population registration. This workshop aims to discuss the history of population registration from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, focussing on Europe from the late 18th to the 20th century. We are particularly interested in the (continuous) monitoring and documentation of the abode or stay of (permanent or temporary) residents as well as travellers or migrants. Our focus is on the practices and uses of registration, as well as on the interactions between those involved in such procedures.
We would like to address the following aspects: The developments of categories and the making of differences: Registration practices contributed to producing social facts such as “population”, “residents”, or “mobility”. At the same time, registration could be patchy and selective; it differentiated and distinguished between various sections of the mobile and/or sedentary population which, in the eyes of the authorities, required various levels of vigilance. Those authorities openly or secretly classified not only various kinds of strangers, foreigners and types of presence. Citizens too could be subject to different forms of monitoring and documentation, e.g. military conscripts, workers and servants, suspects or criminals, and religious, political, national or ethnic minorities. Registration and monitoring of the population could go beyond a state’s territory and become a matter of international affairs in various respects, e.g. through exchange of information, comparison and adaptation of policies. Read more … (PDF)
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