Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the interrelatedness between everyday unequal urbanization & microbiological/physicochemical changes experienced by stored water. By documenting human habits & the materiality of mosquito habitats, it reflects on ways of producing knowledge for sustainable futures.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2014 dengue, zika and chikungunya outbreaks have increased, becoming endemic in the urban South. Aedes aegypti, the primary vector for these diseases, breeds mainly in stored/stagnant water in tropical countries (Githeko et al., 2000). Studies have warned that climate change might be increasing the proliferation of the mosquito Aedes aegypti in new areas, as rising temperatures can affect the temperature and distribution of stagnant water (Hunter, 2003). Research has also identified urbanization as a major increaser of Aedes aegypti's larval habitats and an accelerator of mosquito survivorship. However, there is a pressing need to understand which elements of the urbanization process contribute to the ecological success of Aedes mosquitoes in urban South. This scenario calls on wider understandings of mosquito habitats and the ways in which people are shaped by mosquitoes. The case study of mosquito habitat prevalence in four neighborhoods of Maputo provides a platform to study mosquito borne diseases in contexts of urbanization. Ethnographic work, documenting everyday water-storage habits, and the assessment of mosquito habitats bring forward a novel contextualization of water, signaling the transformations water undergoes once it is stored inside people´s homes (and fostering mosquito larvae). This paper calls attention to the interrelatedness between socioeconomic contexts of unequal urbanization with microbiological and physicochemical changes of water, as it transforms into mosquito habitats once it gets stored inside households. Ultimately, by attending to the materiality of households, buckets, and mosquitoes, the paper explores ways of producing knowledge for sustainable futures.