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Paper short abstract

This paper situates microbial relations within antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in west African soils. Soil and soil microbes are points of bio-geo-chemical interaction— sites of the transfer and spread of AMR. AMR research can benefit from understanding soils as a connective multispecies medium.

Paper long abstract

Within environmental antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research, it is argued that the use of biocide antimicrobials such as insecticides and pesticides can contribute to the spread of AMR. Further, that environments potentially high in biocide use and microbial life, such as soils, are through-sites for the transmission and spread of AMR, a major global human health threat. What is little discussed in AMR literature is the materiality of soil – including its bio-, chemo-, and geological components – as a relevant site of AMR emergence, evolution, and transmission. This paper draws on multiple strands, from One Health environmental AMR science to the materiality of soils and social study of microbes, situating the scope of environmental AMR onto biocide use in its interplay with soils in agricultural and household contexts in Benin, West Africa. Drawing from qualitative interview data from spaces at the nexus of human-animal-environment and biocide use – households (including outdoor areas), market gardens and garden suppliers – this paper Illustrates that soils become more than just surface byways but mediums in which biological, geological, and chemical materials pass through, interact, and affect one another in the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This paper rethinks more-than-human elements in the context of AMR spread and flow. Relevant to developing environments resilient to AMR, this paper provides a theoretical-empirical framework that connects AMR, a human health issue, with the materiality of human-affected soils.