TheMaterialismofBiologicalEncounters 49
existence,itisinvolvedinmultipleengagementwithitsenvironment(s),
natural and human-made. These engagements are continuous and often
remain unnoticed but can also be evental and disturbing; in either case,
they affect the human individually and collectively, and at critical
historical junctures throw into critical relief the whole network of
political,socialandculturalrelationsatanygivenmoment.
On this basis, the following pages will negotiate the idea that the
biology of human life brings together human beings, "makes
company"—although such company is often a coercive aggregate of
strangers.^2 Whenhumanbeingscomeacrossoneanother,thisisnotonly
a moment when minds or hearts may meet but oftentimes an
engagement also of biologies, and especially so when active biotic
material passes from one human being to another one. In biomedical
parlance,thebiotapassedonareinterestinglyoftenenoughidentifiedas
"contactcommunicants,"andthesewouldincludebacteria,microbes,or
viruses, to name only a few. This latter group forms a highly dynamic
and compelling form of biological mobility that manifests itself in
virulent communicable diseases, in epidemics such as SARS, MERS,
avian and pig influenzas or the whole array of sexually transmitted
diseases,mostprominentamongthemHIV-AIDS.^3
I am calling these instances "biological encounters."^4 The term
"encounter" is helpful here because, as any dictionary will inform us, it
designates"achancemeeting"whichattimescanbeenriching,atothers
more antagonistic, as in collisions "between hostile factions or persons"
as in "a sudden often violent clash... between the police and
demonstrators" ("Encounter" n. pag.). Thus understood, "encounter"
(^2) More details for encounters of biologically active material can be found in
Leavitt, Judith Walzer, and Ronald L. Numbers, eds.Sickness and Health in
America:ReadingsintheHistoryofMedicineandPublicHealth. Madison: UP
of Wisconsin, 1997. Print.; and Kiple, Kenneth F., ed.The Cambridge World
HistoryofHumanDisease.Cambridge:CambridgeUP,1993.Print.
(^3) This is not meant to suggest that HIV-AIDS is exclusively transmitted by
sexual contacts. Chief among the other channels of transmission are blood
transfusionsorpregnancy.
(^4) The term has also been used, albeit in a slightly different context, by
anthropologist William Starna in his exploration of the medical effects of early
contactsbetweenNativeAmericansandEuropeans.