Project Title: Mobile Mosquitoes- Understanding the entangled mobilities of Aedes mosquitoes and human in India, Mexico, Tanzania and German
Project Description: This project establishes an interdisciplinary research consortium to study the entangled mobilities of humans and Aedes mosquitoes in India, Mexico, Tanzania and Germany. The project examines mosquito dispersal in relation to human movement. It systematically analyses how the mobility of people and things (migrants, tourists, objects of travel and trade) are interlinked with the mobility of Aedes and the spread of associated arboviral diseases. We study in three ways (i) The project intends to monitor... This project establishes an interdisciplinary research consortium to study the entangled mobilities of humans and Aedes mosquitoes in India, Mexico, Tanzania and Germany. The project examines mosquito dispersal in relation to human movement. It systematically analyses how the mobility of people and things (migrants, tourists, objects of travel and trade) are interlinked with the mobility of Aedes and the spread of associated arboviral diseases. We study in three ways (i) The project intends to monitor the presence and abundance of mosquitoes in and through human transportation through the installation of the traps in long-distance buses and permanent trapping stations at port facilities, (ii) Following the mosquitoes as they move with/in human infrastructure through participation observation around the mobile mosquito traps. in the quantitative interview we study political-economic attendant to human mobility, as well as perceptions of mosquito mobility and diseases risks and (iii) In a collaborative analysis, entomologist, ecologist, and anthropologist will shed light on the socio-ecological dynamics that stem from these entangled mobilities, answering the question what role infrastructure play in the transmission infectious disease. Overlying mobility maps of humans and mosquito, the project will produce cartography of entangled human and mosquito mobilities in Tanzania, India, Mexico, and Germany. This ''multispecies approach'' will generate mobility maps of human and mosquito species that can be overlayed and analyzed for their entanglements. The invasive mosquito species Aedes, a vector for variety of arboviral diseases, is a paradigmatic case of how human and nonhuman mobility converges in contemporary societies . Understanding their entangled movement is of utmost importance for developing successful vector control strategies.
Principal Investigator : Fredros Okumu
Department Name :
Time frame: (2022-04-01) - (2026-03-30)
Volkswagen Stiftung (Normal)
External Collaborating Partners
Freie universitat Berlin