In the modern world, IDs are indispensable objects, without which we cannot prove that we are who we say we are. We need material substantiation that attests to the authenticity of our self-identification. This paper is an account of an ethnographic experience about IDs and identification processes in the US, based on the examination of two events in which Eliot Spitzer, the New York State governor from January 2007 to March 2008, was a central figure. A comparison with the Brazilian scenario is present throughout the paper, and it ends by focusing on the ID theft phenomenon.
Eliot Spitzer; ethnography; ID theft; United States
