With Microbes

Charlotte Brives (1) , Matthäus Rest (2) , Salla Sariola (3)

1 CED - Centre Émile Durkheim
2 MPI-SHH - Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
3 Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki

Without microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? In this book, 24 contributors attune to microbes and describe their multiple relationships with humans and others. Ethnographic explorations with fermented foods, waste, faecal matter, immunity, antimicrobial resistance, phages, as well as indigenous and scientific understandings of microbes challenge ideas of them being simple entities: not just pathogenic foes, old friends or good fermentation minions, but much more. Following various entanglements, the book tells how these relations transform both humans and microbes in the process.

Mots clés: microbes

Domaines: Sociologie; Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Etudes de l'environnement; Environnement et Société

Charlotte Brives, Matthäus Rest, Salla Sariola (Dir.). With Microbes. Mattering Press, 2021, 978-1-912729-18-0. ⟨10.28938/9781912729180⟩. ⟨halshs-03479562⟩