Paper short abstract:

The control of mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever is premised on breaking the lifecycle of their vectors. This paper explores the role of an insecticide in the assembling of global protocols and their dis-assembly in the face of domestic ambivalences towards domestic insecticide.

Paper long abstract:

The multiply interlocking lifestyles and lifecycles of human and mosquitoes present a series of possibilities for intervention and the consequent 'control' of vector-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria. This is often through the use of insecticides (e.g. larvicides, 'knock-down' sprays, insecticide treated bed nets (ITBs)). But while the use of insecticides for vector-control is framed within global health protocols, human-mosquito relations are located within diverse, spatially and temporarily dynamic microenvironments, complicating points for intervention in vector biology. Furthermore, mosquitoes, pesticides and human practices around them are also embedded within a series of wider social, political and economic relationships and spaces. In particular, 'home', the relationship of domestic to public space, and perceptions of responsibility and appropriate actions shift as mosquitoes, pesticides and people move between these spaces.

This paper explores how an ambivalent chemical compound, deployed at once to kill and preserve life, is assembled through global health protocols, but often dis-assembled (dissembled, even) in its relationships with people, spaces, and multiple other entities such as water barrels, resting mosquitoes or fridge drip trays. In doing so, it asks whether single object biographies are sufficient to capture the messiness and contingency of multiple actant relationships in the context of anti-dengue practices in contemporary urban India.