Zoonosis as a Problem for Science, Governance and Empire

Having given recently rise to the SARS and Covid-19 pandemics as well as to a number of significant regional epidemics (Ebola), zoonosis, or the transmission of diseases from animals to humans constitutes one of the most urgent global challenges of our times. In fact, approaches of diseases as “zoonoses” have been in place for over 250 years giving rise to distinct scientific frameworks and biopolitical regimes. This talk examines how the development of different ways of approaching zoonosis since 1770 has given rise to distinct entanglements of animal and human medicine, troubling multispecies relations and forging together the governance of animals and humans in dynamic and situated ways. The talk will underline the imperial context of the rise and transformation of scientific and governmental approaches to zoonosis, exploring the potential for decolonising this medical and epidemiological concept.

Christos Lynteris

Professor of Medical Anthropology

Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

The lecture is organised by EA:RTH – Ethnographic Action: Researching Transformations of Humans and Environment on a Disrupted Planet at the Department of Social Sciences. The research group is a member of UiT’s Centre for Arctic Humanities (ArcHum).