Who or what is ‘the public’ in critical public health? Reflections on posthumanism and anthropological engagements with One Health

Abstract

This paper extends the terms of engagement between social science, posthumanist debates and One Health by questioning whether ‘the public’ may include non-human animals. The One Health concept refers to interdependence between human beings and non-human species in socio-ecological systems. One Health interventions and critiques have tended to emphasize the prevention of zoonotic infections, whereas this paper reflects on more than a decade of engaged research in One Health promotion. Repeatedly, this particular approach to One Health promotion has highlighted the imprint of multi-species entanglements in public life, especially the problematization and politicization of people’s pets. Serious consideration for multi-species entanglements cautions against conflating ‘the public’ with human beings and human interests, to the exclusion of all others. Human beings have never lived separate and apart from non-human species, and we all depend on shared environments. To do justice to multi-species entanglements, socio-ecological theory should undergo expansion in health promotion.

Keywords:

• Health promotion
• animal welfare
• qualitative research
• policy analysis
• urban planning
• community participation
• public health
• ecology
• social environment
• systems theory
• social theory

Acknowledgements

I presented an earlier version as a CIHR/IPPH Visiting Lecturer (ICT-138,054) when the University of Sussex hosted a joint conference of the European Association for Social Anthropology’s Medical Anthropology Network and the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Medical Anthropology Committee. More specifically, I presented at the University of Sussex in a panel convened by Simon Cohn and Rebecca Lynch on posthumanism, medical anthropology and global health. I gratefully acknowledge insights that were shared with me by the research participants and within my research team (www.ucalgary.ca/mrock). I especially thank Ann Toohey for providing critical feedback during the writing process, as well as Lydia Vaz for administrative assistance. I also thank the reviewers and the editors for this special issue of Critical Public Health on posthumanism.