More-than-human borderlands of disease

Larissa Fleischmann, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg gave a presentation, followed by a discussion with Tracie Wilson, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, and questions from participants. 

Larissa Fleischmann is a researcher in human geography, whose work centers around viruses and animals as border agents. Fleischmann's current research project is "Animals, Power and Space: More-than-Human Political Geographies of Animal Health". 

Throughout the past years, German authorities have erected a dense network of fences in the Eastern German borderlands with Poland. It is still difficult to estimate the exact numbers since no official figures are available, yet, the total length seems to easily exceed 500 kilometres, while more fences are being built at the current moment. These fences install material barriers along an administrative borderline that was formerly not physically demarcated, thus, putting renewed significance on the material protection of national borders within the European Union. Yet, the aim of these fences is not to keep out ‘unwanted’ border crossers of a human kind. Instead, they target the ‘risky’ cross-border mobilities of wild boars – animals regarded as a biosecurity threat and a disease reservoir of African Swine Fever (ASF), currently rated as the most threatening global animal disease. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in the Eastern German state of Saxony, this talk puts forward a more-than-human conception of borderlands, one that considers how they are co-constituted through the complex interactions and relations between humans and a number of nonhuman actors and forces.  

This is the third seminar of the series Dwelling, elsewhere: Comparative-methodological perspectives on borderland inhabitation, arranged by William Kutz and the Borderland Working Group. For more information about the Borderland Working Group or to join the mailing list, please write to William Kutz at william [dot] kutz [at] cors [dot] lu [dot] se (william[dot]kutz[at]cors[dot]lu[dot]se).