The counting machinery: translation, multiplication, and liberal politics of homelessness in Paris
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Author (Corporation)
Publication date
08.07.2025
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01A - Journal article
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Parent work
Signs and Society
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Volume
13
Issue / Number
3
Pages / Duration
431-453
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Cambridge University Press
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Abstract
This article analyzes the interconnected translation processes that led the Paris city council to conceptualize, address and act upon “homelessness” through counting. By translation, we mean a range of semiotic processes that connect social worlds, their objects, practices, genres and bodies of expertise. These are usually imagined as separate: For example, auditing and volunteering, science and government, charity and policing, poverty and social hygiene. Our analysis is based on ethnographic data collected in Paris, France, between January and August 2023, during two editions of the Nuit de la Solidarité [Night of Solidarity], a large-scale effort by the city council, in collaboration with numerous volunteers, to count homeless people in Paris. Linking translation scholarship with academic work on quantification and liberal governmentality, we demonstrate that the semiotic process of translation is deeply interconnected with the political work performed by numbers and counting techniques, imbuing them with meaning and ensuring their capacity to exert power. Translation, we show, serves not only to link governance techniques across geopolitical borders but also to integrate various political projects and normalize and naturalize the structural inequalities that define cities like Paris.
Keywords
counting, governmentality, homelessness, Paris
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2326-4497
2326-4489
2326-4489
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
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Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Gold
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Citation
Del Percio, A., & Vigouroux, C. B. (2025). The counting machinery: translation, multiplication, and liberal politics of homelessness in Paris. Signs and Society, 13(3), 431–453. https://doi.org/10.1017/sas.2025.10016