From casta to code: how AI classifies and produces contemporary identity

This talk examines how systems of classification shape the construction of identity across different historical contexts. In colonial Latin America, caste paintings visually represented racial hierarchies by linking identity to genealogy and bodily traits. These images did not simply reflect social categories; they helped produce and stabilize them.

Today, algorithmic systems increasingly classify individuals through layers of data, generating digital profiles based on behaviour, demographics, and predictive models. By placing colonial visual classification and contemporary algorithmic profiling in dialogue, this talk explores how both systems participate in the production of identity and raises critical questions about bias, power, and the ethical governance of artificial intelligence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariamontverdaguer/