(December 1) Seminar on avian influenza control in Vietnam

The Department of Anthropology and the Museum of Anthropology cordially invite teachers and students to attend the seminar.

Topic: “Nobody wants to raise livestock!” - Some comments on controlling avian influenza in some poultry farming areas in Vietnam

Presenter: Natalie Porter (PhD. Candidate, Anthropology Department, University of Wisconsin Madison, USA).

Summary: Since 2003, the emergence of avian influenza has created major changes in the poultry industry in Vietnam. To combat avian influenza, the World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Vietnamese government, has restructured poultry farming for biosecurity purposes. By reorienting traditional farming practices to global commercial standards, this process is transforming an agricultural sector that has long been ingrained in the consciousness of most smallholder poultry farmers. The author's presentation will summarize ethnographic research at three sites of avian influenza control and prevention, including a state health and agricultural policymaking center and two poultry farming areas in the north and south. The author will discuss two main questions: How have global health activities in avian influenza changed poultry farming in ways that have influenced attitudes toward health, risk, and the environment? How will people deal with and respond to changes in their daily livestock production activities, as well as in their relationships with global health officials and policies? By examining how avian influenza prevention strategies were created in the past, and further comparing practices in two different socioeconomic locations, the author can explore changes in the daily lifestyles of livestock farmers in the face of the new pandemic threat.

Time: 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

Location: Multimedia Room, Museum of Anthropology, 3rd floor, Building D, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 336 Nguyen Trai - Thanh Xuan - Hanoi.