From Mad Cows to Posthumanism

Smart outlines how thinking through posthumanism through the case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (also known as mad cow disease) in Canada re-shaped the author and their collaborator's understanding of borders. Diseased cows posed no real threat to humans, but the outbreak still caused a prohibition on moving cattle across borders. Though this at first seemed new, historical research revealed the first passports to be "health passports" produced by the Florentine Board of Health during the 1348 outbreak of plague. The post ends with a reflection on the way posthumanism or more-than-human approaches have been seen by some as a move away from the humanist ideal and the focus on colonized peoples realizing their self-determination. However, Smart argues that the same kind of anthropocentrism is inextricable from the problems of inequality and oppression, stating we can no longer afford an anthropocentric anthropology and urging cooperative interdisciplinary collaboration.