A pre‐event configuration for biological threats: Preparedness and the constitution of biosecurity events

Samimian-Darash, Limor

doi:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2009.01174.x

Cited by 48 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Based on speculation about such factors as the environment, health, and capital, anticipation is intricately associated with a logic of disaster management and attempts to prepare for a future defined by risk. Anthropologists have shown that administrators and planners increasingly respond to this futurity and its dimension of risk through ‘prognosis’ (Mathews and Barnes, 2016), regimes of preparedness (Samimian‐Darash, 2009), and manipulations of time (Guyer, 2007). When they conflate disaster with national security, regimes of anticipation increase government control over spaces, populations, and bodies (Lakoff and Collier, 2008; Collier and Lakoff, 2015).…”

Section: The Emotional Lives Of Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waiting for the flood: technocratic time and impending disaster in the Himalayas

Gagné

2019

Disasters

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A landslide occurred in the region of Zanskar in the Indian Himalayas in 2015, damming the Tsarap River, creating a lake that effectively became a ticking time bomb, threatening villagers downstream. During the period between the discovery of the natural dam and the bursting of the lake, the state's approach to disaster management plunged the local population into a situation where ‘technocratic time’ ruled, as government experts handled the impending disaster at a rhythm dictated by the production of studies and reports. Analysis of the temporality of disaster mitigation and preparedness measures during this anticipated flood, as well as of the factors that surrounded the events, reveals how attitudes towards the state shaped people's perceptions of these interventions. In Zanskar, the technocratic pace and the state's lack of transparency were seen as a form of oppression that further marginalised the region, in particular by subjecting its population to the process of waiting.

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Section: The Emotional Lives Of Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waiting for the flood: technocratic time and impending disaster in the Himalayas

Gagné

2019

Disasters

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“…An assemblage, in contrast, is heterogeneous, dynamic, and does not represent a major response. Rather, it can be characterized by numerous sub-structures that exist simultaneously (see also Samimian-Darash, 2009). 3.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropology of security and security in anthropology: Cases of counterterrorism in the United States

Stalcup

Samimian-Darash

2016

Anthropological Theory

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In this article we propose a mode of analysis that allows us to consider security as a form distinct from insecurity, in order to capture the heterogeneity of security objects, logics and forms of action. We first develop a genealogy for the anthropology of security, demarcating four main approaches: violence and state terror; military, militarization, and militarism; para-state securitization; and what we submit as 'security assemblages.' Security assemblages move away from focusing on security formations per se, and how much violence or insecurity they yield, to identifying and studying security forms of action, whether or not they are part of the nation-state. As an approach to anthropological inquiry and theory, it is oriented toward capturing how these forms of action work and what types of security they produce. We illustrate security assemblages through our fieldwork on counterterrorism in the domains of law enforcement, biomedical research and federal-state counter-extremism, in each case arriving at a diagnosis of the form of action. The set of distinctions that we propose is intended as an aid to studying empirical situations, particularly of security, and, on another level, as a proposal for an approach to anthropology today. We do not expect that the distinctions that aid us will suffice in every circumstance. Rather, we submit that this work presents a set of specific insights about contemporary US security, and an example of a new approach to anthropological problems.

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“…These imaginings thus have long‐term consequences (Gusterson ; Lowe ; Nelson et al. ; Samimian‐Darash ; Schoch‐Spana ). In this article, rather than focusing on how people imagined and prepared for events, I look at how people continued their engagements with infectious microbes after the H1N1 epidemic.…”

Section: Historical and Cultural Contexts Of Bioseguridadmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioseguridad in Mexico: Pursuing Security between Local and Global Biologies

Wanderer

2017

Med Anthropol Q

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In the aftermath of the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza, scientists in Mexico sought to develop bioseguridad, that is, to protect biological life in Mexico by safely conducting research on infectious disease. Drawing on ethnographic research in laboratories and with scientists in Mexico, I look at how scientists make claims about local differences in regulations, infrastructure, bodies, and culture. The scientists working with infectious microbes sought to establish how different microbial ecologies, human immune systems, and political and regulatory systems made the risks of research different in Mexico from other countries. In developing bioseguridad, the idea of globalized biology that animates many public health projects was undermined as scientists attended to the elements of place that affected human health and safety. Scientists argued for the importance of local biologies, generating tension with global public health projects and regulations premised on the universality of biology.

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A pre‐event configuration for biological threats: Preparedness and the constitution of biosecurity events

Cited by 48 publications

References 28 publications

Waiting for the flood: technocratic time and impending disaster in the Himalayas

Waiting for the flood: technocratic time and impending disaster in the Himalayas

Anthropology of security and security in anthropology: Cases of counterterrorism in the United States

Bioseguridad in Mexico: Pursuing Security between Local and Global Biologies

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