Views from many worlds: unsettling categories in interdisciplinary research on endemic zoonotic diseases

Argues for a broader sweep of disciplinary insights from anthropology and other social sciences in interdisciplinary dialogue

Abstract

Interdisciplinary research on zoonotic disease has tended to focus on ‘risk’ of disease transmission as a conceptual common denominator. With reference to endemic zoonoses at the livestock–human interface, we argue for considering a broader sweep of disciplinary insights from anthropology and other social sciences in interdisciplinary dialogue, in particular cross-cultural perspectives on human–animal engagement. We consider diverse worldviews where human–animal encounters are perceived of in terms of the kinds of social relations they generate, and the notion of culture is extended to the ‘natural’ world

This work arises from the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) programme.

Citation

MacGregor H, Waldman L (2017). Views from many worlds: unsettling categories in interdisciplinary research on endemic zoonotic diseases. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 372(1725)

Views from many worlds: unsettling categories in interdisciplinary research on endemic zoonotic diseases

Published 5 June 2017