Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Life of a Pest tracks the work practices of scientists in Mexico, as they study flora and fauna at scales ranging from microscopic to ecosystemic. Amid concerns about climate change, infectious disease outbreaks, and biotechnology, scientific research in Mexico has expanded from a focus on threats to human life to include threats to animal, plant, and microbial worlds. From influenza viruses to feral goats and transgenic maize, Emily Wanderer outlines how scientists are moving biopolitics and biosecurity beyond the human, identifying populations and life forms as worth saving or in need of elimination. Moving from high security labs where scientists study infectious diseases, to offices where ecologists regulate the use of genetically modified organisms, to remote islands where conservationists eradicate invasive species, Emily Wanderer explores how biopolitical research informs, and is informed by, concepts of nation.