Animals, Power, and Space: More-than-Human Political Geographies of Animal Health

In cooperation with DFG Project No. 450048046

Animals and viruses set in motion powerful processes of territorialisation and bordering. This becomes particularly evident in the management of infectious animal diseases such as African swine fever or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In the name of protecting animal health for specific subpopulations and safeguarding national agricultural and meat economies, a wide range of measures is implemented. These interventions materialize in powerful and contested political geographies.

A recent example is the management of avian influenza in Mansfeld-Südharz. In the course of post-GDR socio-ecological transformations, the Kelbra Reservoir has emerged as one of the most important roosting sites for Eurasian cranes (Grus grus) in Central Europe. In autumn 2025, however, the high density and seasonal aggregation of migratory birds coincided with a massive outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the region. The measures that followed—including protection and surveillance zones, mass culling, access restrictions, and cartographic risk designations—illustrate how wild animals, viruses, and poultry farmers become entangled in contentious more-than-human governance practices. This highlights the tensions between ongoing socio-ecological transitions, nature conservation, and animal health, which form a central focus of this research project.

Against this background, the project examines more-than-human governance practices as they emerge through the management of infectious animal diseases. It asks how spatial orderings and borderings are produced, legitimized, stabilized, shifted, or contested in disease management regimes. At the same time, the project analyses how animals and viruses themselves subvert, transform, or disrupt dominant b/orderings—for instance, when highly mobile species such as cranes challenge territorial logics of control and containment.

The project contributes to ongoing debates on socio-ecological transitions and more-than-human political geographies. By foregrounding animals, viruses, and other materialities as active political agents, it aims to advance approaches in political geography and critical transformation studies beyond anthropocentric perspectives.