Animals, Power and Space: More-than-Human Political Geographies of Animal Health

动物和病毒启动了强大的空间秩序。这一点在非洲猪瘟或口蹄疫等动物疾病中得到了突出的说明。为了建立某些亚群体的动物健康和保护国家肉类经济，政府行为体实施了各种措施，这些措施体现在领土划分和边界划分过程中。本研究项目的重点是在这种情况下变得明显的超越人类的管理实践：（1）围栏--建造围栏以固定病毒和"危险"野生动物，这些动物被归类为疾病储存库;（2）分区--划分具有不同生物安全级别和法规的区域;（3）制图--创建地理地图以可视化区域、围栏和"危险"（非）流动性。该项目研究动物健康的生产如何（重新）产生、改变或颠覆当前的空间和政治秩序。与此同时，它将动物和病毒本身视为不断挑战治理实践的政治行为者，并可能揭示现有空间秩序的不一致性。从概念上讲，该项目侧重于动物，权力和空间之间的紧张关系。它集中在一个分析的角度，将政治地理学的核心概念与后人类主义的方法联系起来，如超越人类的地理学。其目的是有助于（a）建立动物，病毒和其他物质作为政治地理学的相关研究课题和（B）理解政治作为一个结构性元素的超过人类的世界。通过动物（非）流动性的角度来看待动物健康的空间生产，这个项目也倾向于人文地理学和邻近学科的流动性转向。从经验上讲，该研究项目建立在欧洲和南部非洲的定性人种学实地考察的基础上。在第一年，它调查了最近在德国-丹麦和德国-波兰边境地区预防非洲猪瘟的措施。这种传染病也被称为"猪埃博拉"，目前被认为是21世纪世纪最具威胁的全球动物疾病。在研究的第二年，该项目通过到纳米比亚和博茨瓦纳实地考察，审查了在处理口蹄疫等动物疾病方面的（后）殖民（不）连续性。这种多站点的研究设计允许考虑到（后）殖民和跨区域的相互关系，动物健康的空间生产的差异化的理解。

Animals and viruses set in motion powerful spatial orderings. This becomes strikingly illustrated in the context of animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever or Foot-and-Mouth Disease. With the aims of establishing animal health for certain subpopulations and protecting national meat economies, governmental actors implement various measures that materialize in territorializations and border-making processes. This research project focuses on the more-than-human governing practices that become visible in this context:(1) Fencing - the construction of fences for immobilizing viruses and 'risky' wild animals, who are classified as disease reservoirs,(2) Zoning - the demarcation of zones with different biosecurity levels and regulations and(3) Mapping - the creation of geographical maps to visualize zones, fences and 'risky' (im)mobilities.The project investigates how the production of animal health (re)produces, shifts or subverts current spatial and political orderings. At the same time, it regards animals and viruses themselves as political actors who continuously challenge governing practices and might reveal inconsistencies in existing spatial orders. Conceptually speaking, the project focuses on the tension between animals, power and space. It centres on an analytical perspective that links core concepts of political geography with posthumanist approaches, such as more-than-human geographies. The aim is to contribute to (a) establishing animals, viruses and other materialities as relevant research subjects in political geography and (b) understanding the political as a structuring element of more-than-human worlds. By looking at the spatial production of animal health through the perspective of animal (im)mobilities, this project is also inclined to the mobility turn in human geography and neighbouring disciplines. Empirically speaking, the research project builds on qualitative-ethnographic fieldwork in Europe and southern Africa. In the first year, it investigates the recent measures to prevent African Swine Fever in the German-Danish and German-Polish border region. The infectious disease, also known as "Pig Ebola", is currently framed as the most threatening global animal disease of the 21st century. In the second year of research, the project examines the (post)colonial (dis)continuities in dealing with animal diseases, such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease, through field trips to Namibia and Botswana. This multi-sited research design allows a differentiated understanding of the spatial production of animal health by taking into account (post)colonial and transregional interrelations.