Viral Economies: Bird Flu Experiments in Vietnam

by Natalie Porter

Over the last decade, infectious disease outbreaks have heightened fears of a catastrophic pandemic passing from animals to humans. From Ebola and bird flu to swine flu and MERS, zoonotic viruses are killing animals and wreaking havoc on the people living near them. Given this clear correlation between animals and viral infection, why are animals largely invisible in social science accounts of pandemics, and why do they remain marginal in critiques of global public health?
 
In Viral Economies , Natalie Porter draws from long-term research on bird flu in Vietnam to chart the pathways of scientists, NGO workers, state veterinarians, and poultry farmers as they define and address pandemic risks. Porter argues that as global health programs expand their purview to include life and livestock, they weigh the interests of public health against those of commercial agriculture, rural tradition, and scientific innovation. Porter challenges human-centered analyses of pandemics and shows how dynamic and often dangerous human-animal relations take on global significance as poultry and their pathogens travel through global livestock economies and transnational health networks. Viral Economies urges readers to think critically about the ideas, relationships, and practices that produce our everyday commodities, and that shape how we determine the value of life—both human and nonhuman.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2019

Reviews

[Cat]

lowkey grimly hilarious in a covid world, but nothing special unless you really want to read ethnographies of the world of bird flu prevention in Vietnam

[Koitto D]

由于与我的博士课题紧密相关，曾认真阅读过两遍。

我认为整本书的民族志材料非常详尽，但是，在一定程度上缺乏更高的理论化与批判性反思，从而让前三章显得较为平淡。实际上，我在阅读第二遍的时候，发现很多可以进一步研究的地方。

最后一章关于病毒主权viral sovereignty的研究最有启发性，可以结合Porter，Lowe等关于viral sovereignty的文章阅读。