Presentation short abstract

The ASF outbreak in Northeast India has disrupted Indigenous food systems, particularly the pig based economy, leaving the communities in precarity. It has impacted livelihood, culture, and eating. This paper examines how biopolitics of viral outbreak has (re)shaped human- pig relationships.

Presentation long abstract

The Northeastern region of India is a multicultural, multiethnic geography with many small indigenous and tribal ethnic groups calling it their home. The food systems are local, and deeply tied to their social, and ecological world. It nourishes the communities, and provides them basic livelihood. From mid 2025 the outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) in Northeast, has disrupted the Indigenous food systems, and left many farmers helpless, and uncertain about their future. ASF mainly affects pigs, and as of now there is no "cure" or vaccine that can prevent this outbreak, other than biosecurity measures.

People in Northeast not just rear pigs, but co-exist with them, reflecting their wider ritual, social, and ecological world. As pigs hold deep economic, cultural, and nutritional significance for tribal communities in the region, the rapid loss of pigs to ASF has severely disrupted the food system, impacted the value chain, and compromised everyday nourishment leaving the communities, and farmers in precarity.

In the absence of robust care infrastructures or state support, the crisis reveals a complex web of vulnerabilities, and negotiations around disease management, animal life and human life. This paper employs a lens of bio-politics to understand how the outbreak of ASF has (re) shaped/ (re) shaping human - pig relationships, and looks at the entanglements of viral outbreaks.

This research is drawn from my ongoing ethnographic field work, for my doctoral research.