Events

CHAIRPERSON

Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey, Asia Research Institute, and Department of History, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

While the health crises of the past two decades have highlighted Chinese animal markets (or “wetmarkets”) as potential sites of transmission for zoonotic pathogens, such as influenza viruses or SARS coronaviruses, Chinese consumers have continued going to these markets rather than to supermarkets because they meet their demand for “freshness” and “proximity”. Based on a literature review and a survey in the city of Chengdu, my presentation will examine the variety of forms of animal markets (retail or wholesale) and slaughter practices. I will emphasize that the control of zoonotic risks in these markets is more generally part of a process of privatization, that delegates responsibility to retailers and increases the uncertainty about the possibility of selling their animals on a regular basis.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Frédéric Keck is Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Social Anthropology (CNRS-Collège de France-EHESS). After working on the history of social anthropology and contemporary biopolitical questions raised by avian influenza, he was the head of the research department of the musée du quai Branly between 2014 and 2018. He published Avian Reservoirs: Virus Hunters and Birdwatchers in Chinese Sentinel Posts (Duke University Press, 2020) and (with A. Kelly and C. Lynteris) Anthropology of Epidemics (Routledge, 2019).

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.