Viral sovereignty

Bibliographic Data

ID3660950
AuthorsCelia Lowe (0000-0003-1278-3906, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume6
Issue3
Publication date2019-10-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedicine Anthropology Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2405-691X • E-ISSN: 2405-691X
PublisherEdinburgh University Library (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17157/mat.6.3.662
OpenAlexW2981380633
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited15

In the mid-2000s, Indonesia became 'ground zero' for an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, the H5N1 strain, which global health experts feared would cause a devastating pandemic. When asked to participate in global health measures, Indonesia's minister of health argued that the country had 'viral sovereignty' and refused to share samples with the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System. The global health community claimed, in response, that such refusal put all humanity at risk. Both sides of the debate expressed paranoia, resentment, and mistrust as their different ideas of security came into play. In the midst of these accusations and counteraccusations, little attention was paid to the larger social and ecological context in which the virus had emerged and flourished. I argue that when vital matter gets taken up within frameworks of security, human and animal bodies, narratives, and politics get scripted through concerns for biological and political vulnerability. Paranoia, resentment, and mistrust resonate as the multiple vulnerabilities of bodies and their social positioning frame uncertain futures

Biology · Environmental ethics · Global health · Health care · Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 · International community · Paranoia · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Resentment · Sociology · Sovereignty · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Medicine · Virology

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