2013/02/01 by Natalie Porter · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Medicine · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Geographies of human-animal interactions #Zoonotic diseases and public health #Human-Animal Interaction Studies
paper · doi:10.1111/amet.12010
openalex publication_date 2013/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
ABSTRACT Outbreaks of SARS, swine flu, and avian influenza have prompted a “One Health” effort to control diseases transmitted between species. Using ethnographic observations from Việt Nam, I reveal how avian flu transforms strategies for living in light of human vulnerability to animals. Positing a multispecies approach to biopower, I argue that techniques for safeguarding human–animal collectivities confront heterogeneous moral codes surrounding animals’ role in knowledge hierarchies, village economies, and notions of individual worth. This analysis provides a framework for reconceptualizing biopower in relation to emerging diseases and reenvisions the role of animals in the politics of life itself.