Species of Contagion examines the political and social implications of
xenotransplantation for bodies, nations, and species. Scientists are
demonstrating a renewed interest in developing transplants for humans
with tissues from pigs, with the aid of genetic engineering techniques,
immunosuppressant drugs, and novel cellular technologies. Yet, some
argue that these transspecies promiscuities threaten to enable new
viruses to emerge in human populations. Drawing on the later works of
Foucault, this book analyses contemporary power relations in
animal-to-human transplantation research, ranging across governmental
regulation, scientific understandings of infectious disease, and animal
ethics. While many xenotransplantation practices resonate with a
security approach that renders uncertainty an inherent condition of life
and encourages adaptation across species boundaries, government
regulation and industry also reinscribe sovereign boundaries of bodies,
species, and nations. Species of Contagion illustrates the variation
in the cultural and scientific imaginaries that governments and industry
bring to bear on the problematic of xenotransplantation.