Academic Lecture｜Sentinels, between diplomats and whistleblowers. Concepts to integrate animals in human collectives

Sentinels, between diplomats and whistleblowers. Concepts to integrate animals in human collectives @ NCCU

• Event Date: December 7, 2023 (Thursday)
• Event Time: 3:20 PM to 5:00 PM (Check-in starts at 3:00 PM)
• Event Venue: Dah-Hsian Lecture Hall, 8th Floor, Dah Hsian Seetoo Library
• Language: The lecture will be conducted in English.

Moderator: Paul Jobin (Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica)
Opening Remarks: Professor Wen-Ling Tu (Dean of the International College of Innovation, National Chengchi University)

Organizers:

• International College of Innovation
• EASTS Journal
• Bureau Français de Taipei

Introduction:

This lecture is organized on the occasion of the course "Gaiapolitics, ecology, and war," featuring Professor Frédéric Keck from the CNRS (France), the author of the book "Avian Reservoirs: Virus Hunters and Birdwatchers in Chinese Sentinel Posts"(Chinese Version Coming Soon). Based on his ethnographic work on techniques of preparedness for avian influenza pandemics in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, Professor Keck proposes the concepts of "sentinels" and "sentinel devices" to illustrate how non-human actors participate in the global war against emerging viruses. He also explores how "virus hunters" take the perspectives of animals, thus investing in contemporary relations between humans, animals, and plants a mode of thought that has been studied by anthropologists among hunter-gatherer societies.

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