ADI/SSN COVID-19 Seminar Series #2: Eben Kirksey
Event Information
About this event
Please join us seminar # 2 in the COVID-19 seminar series, co-hosted by the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship & Globalisation (ADI) and the Science and Society Network (SSN).
Title:
The Emergence of COVID19: A Multispecies Story
Abstract:
Origin stories about COVID19 have circulated widely. An exotic animal market, deep in the enigmatic East, spawned a new pandemic virus. Multiple species of bat and little scaly anteaters called pangolins have all been implicated in conventional accounts about the coronavirus outbreak. Outbreak narratives, about the wet animal market in Wuhan, reek of Orientalism. Media pundits, who have struggled to explain the sudden upheaval of the modern world, have reanimated old stereotypes about Asian people and exotic animals. The subjects of these multispecies stories, to reference Edward Said, share “in common an identity best described as lamentably alien.” As medical doctors, virologists and epidemiologists publish new evidence, origin stories about exotic animals are starting to fall apart.
About the speaker:
Eben Kirksey, an associate professor of Anthropology at Deakin University, is currently in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He has published two books with Duke University Press: Emergent Ecologies and Freedom in Entangled Worlds. St. Martin’s Press will publish his most recent book, The Mutant Project: Inside the Race to Genetically Modify Humans, later this year.
Watch the seminar:
Seminar will be available to stream on YouTube live. Access using the live link: https://youtu.be/ZC9ES4x72zY
Date/time: Tuesday 5th May, 10am - 11:30am (Australian Eastern Standard Time, GMT+10)
Q&A with the speaker to follow. To send questions/participate in the chat, you'll need to sign-in using a YouTube account.
The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on the SSN YouTube channel after the Livestream.
If you have any questions, please send to ssn-info@deakin.edu.au
Organiser Deakin Science and Society Network
Organiser of ADI/SSN COVID-19 Seminar Series #2: Eben Kirksey
Climate change, habitat and biodiversity loss, food and water security, and global health are among some of humanity’s biggest challenges. These issues are interconnected and require social researchers and scientists to work together to develop solutions. The Deakin Science and Society Network reaches across the disciplinary divides of our universities and institutions, and the divides between research, policy and practice. We emphasise the effective communication and translation of research, as the benefits of knowledge can’t be fully realised unless information is shared widely across different audiences.
The Deakin Science and Society Network supports science-literate social research and socially-engaged science that makes an impact.
