The Transparent Traveler

The Performance and Culture of Airport Security

Edición de la obra The Transparent Traveler

At the airport, we line up, remove our shoes, empty our pockets, and hold still three seconds in the body scanner. Deemed safe, we put ourselves back together and are free to buy the beverage we were prohibited from taking through security. In The Transparent Traveler, Rachel Hall explains how the familiar routines of airport security choreograph passenger behavior to create submissive, docile travelers. The cultural performance of contemporary security practically mobilizes what Hall calls the "aesthetics of transparency."