A Bug's Life and the spatial ontologies of mosquito management

Shaw, I. , Jones, J.P. and Robbins, P. (2010) A Bug's Life and the spatial ontologies of mosquito management. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 100(2), pp. 373-392. (doi: 10.1080/00045601003595446)

Full text not currently available from Enlighten.

Abstract

This article uses the theory of Gilles Deleuze to address the disjuncture between (1) the mechanical, chemical, and thermal processes of transduction that determine the biogeographical life of the mosquito; and (2) the spatialities of historic and contemporary management strategies. The history of mosquito management reveals two operative spatial ontologies, one an immanent horizontalism underwriting an intimate strategy of detection and destruction of breeding sites, the other a transcendent verticalism appropriate for the partitioning of space in support of widespread chemical spraying of adult populations. We find that two institutions in contemporary, mosquito-rich Arizona—the Pima County Health Department and Maricopa County Vector Control—are representative of this split in management. In this article we attempt to account for the observed interagency differences. Doing so, we suggest, requires an assemblage theory that brings together managers, institutions, and sociocultural-environmental-technological-political contexts with the flights of the mosquito itself.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Shaw, Dr Ian
Authors: Shaw, I., Jones, J.P., and Robbins, P.
Subjects:G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences > Geography
Journal Name:Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Publisher:Taylor and Francis
ISSN:0004-5608

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record