![]() | Natalie Porter Assistant Professor - University of Notre Dame |
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02.07.2015-19.08.2015
Viral Economies: An Ethnography of Bird Flu in Vietnam
My primary objective at the Brocher Foundation is to complete a full draft of my book manuscript, which brings together findings from research on bird flu management in Vietnam with investigations among transnational virologists and biosecurity specialists in Europe and America. Bringing these strains of research together will allow me to articulate the economic and ethical landscape against which biosecurity interventions for pandemic flu emerge. In doing so, I aim to posit Vietnam as a site of both scientific and social experimentation, where authorities, experts, and lay communities struggle over the materials and benefits of pandemic planning. I will suggest that inasmuch as they take place at the epicenter of avian flu outbreaks, these proprietary struggles not only structure scientific knowledge about pandemic viruses, but they also shape global health strategies to contain them. Going further, I will consider the ethical implications of formulating biosecurity strategies within particular economies of exchange: economies that may overlook alternative ways of owning, transacting, and valuing biological products. In this way, I expect the book to serve as a practical tool that health strategists can use as they develop biosecurity interventions on the ground. With these dual targets in mind – one scholastic and one public – Viral Economies aims to provide a heuristic for critiquing and intervening in pandemic planning. Collaboration with scholars and practitioners in Geneva is a key element in pursuing these objectives at the Brocher Foundation. I am keen to work with researchers at Brocher who are interested in the social and ethical implications of emerging infectious diseases. I also look forward to expanding my network among active pandemic strategists at the WHO and WTO, so as to get practitioner feedback on my findings.