ANTHROPOLOGY COLLOQUIUM SERIES
Dr. Eben Kirksey
Permanent Faculty, University of New South Wales, Australia and Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton
"Living with parasites"
Thursday, January 28, 2016, at 1:00pm in the Anthropology Lounge, 3106 WWPH
As many potential catastrophes loom on future horizons—predicted extinction events, climate change, possible volcanic eruptions, and reports of economic disaster in distant lands—Costa Rican intellectuals are grounding modest hopes in shared futures with other species. Yet, tenacious parasites are interrupting human dreams and schemes. Introduced grasses, fungal pathogens, cattle, and flighty ducks—are flourishing in worlds designed with the well-being of others in mind. While Costa Rican farmers are pushed off their land by predatory lending schemes, transnational conservation initiatives, and multiple species of microparasites, some forms of life are flourishing in the aftermath of disaster. If Bruno Latour imagined bringing a parliamentary democracy to the domain of nature, I failed to find an agora—a central place of political assembly—in the hinterlands of Costa Rica. As biological scientists attempted to speak for other species, noisy parasites interrupted them with their swarming and din.
Location and Address
Anthropology Lounge - 3106 WWP