Abstract
Drawing on collaborative ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores how human health becomes entangled with that of model organisms in day-to-day biomedical science. Social science scholarship on modeling has explored either how specific models impact and shape our knowledge of human disease or how animal technicians and scientists affect laboratory animals. This article extends this relational approach by asking how embodied and institutional care practices for model organisms affect the health and well-being of animal technicians and scientists. We focus on two interspecies bodily experiences: pathogenic exchange and stress. We then explore enrichment as a strategy for producing health and well-being across species. We suggest that relations of care form a crucial part of biomedical knowledge production. Not only does care figure in the shaping of model organisms; care for technicians and scientists also plays a role in bioscientific knowledge production. We conclude by proposing an interspecies approach to occupational health.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 120-137 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Medical Anthropology Quarterly |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 27 Feb 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Mar 2019 |
Bibliographical note
© 2019 The AuthorsKeywords
- care
- interspecies occupational health
- laboratory animals
- model organisms
- Animal Welfare
- Occupational Health
- Humans
- Anthropology, Medical
- Biomedical Research/ethics
- Animals
- Stress, Psychological
- Models, Animal
- Animals, Laboratory
