Saturday, June 13, 2009

Carmen Catalina y Jaime Javier, Capítulo II: Regresa a la Selva

Photo by Arturo Godoy

Travel in a Time of H1N1

With WHO declaring H1N1 a pandemic international travels in the last two weeks has been, if anything, an ethnographic experience (which of course begs the question of what isn't an ethnographic experience, but methodological/existential quandaries aside...). Flying into Tokyo last week meant extensive quarantine paperwork, having fully biohazard suited people come on board to check on anyone with symptoms, and heat detection monitoring.

Biopolitics at the borders? State of exception?

Ironically, my travels to India today (post-pandemic declaration) have made me feel less like "bare life." And the busy consumerism of duty free shopping at Singapore airport provide happy distraction (oh wait, are we in a global economic crisis?).

Would be interested to hear how H1N1 is perceived/experienced in our different field sites!