Anthropology of microbes

Abstract

We describe the need to further integrate the fields of human microbial ecology and anthropology and outline some of the potential goals and benefits of this collaborative work.

Fig. 1.

Envisioned connections between subfields of anthropology and studies of the human microbiome. The color code is one view of a categorization of subfields within anthropology. These subfields can be defined as follows: medical anthropology, the study of the development of systems of medical knowledge and practice within and across different contexts, as well as the interaction of social, environmental, and biological factors with understandings of health and illness; biological anthropology, the study of the evolution and biological development of the human species in comparison with nonhuman primates (incorporates biocultural studies of human diversity, ancestry, and the comparative anatomy, behavior, history, and ecology of primates); anthropology of science, the application of anthropological perspectives and ethnographic methods to scientific fields (examines laboratory and social practices, and contingencies in the production of scientific knowledge); science and technology studies, the examination of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn affect society, politics, and culture; feminist anthropology, founded in reaction to the paucity of ethnographic data about the experiences of women, this subfield has evolved to using gender as an important analytic tool that reframes history, material relations, social institutions, and cultural meanings; kinship studies, the study of the social and biological associations between people that constitute relatedness, and the cultural specificity and fluidity of form and meaning of these relations; anthropology of food, the exploration of how food has been used as an organizing principle in societies and the various and complex ways that food shapes human and nonhuman relationships. Other potential interacting subfields that are discussed in this perspective but not shown in the figure include the following: applied anthropology, the application of the method and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems, such as work with nongovernmental organizations or organizations in international development; development anthropology, the application of anthropological perspectives to the study of the social and economic issues in developing countries (taking development as an object of study, this work often critiques, analyzes, and contributes to development issues); postcolonial studies, the interdisciplinary study and critique of the legacy of colonialism on cultural and national identity; cultural materialism, the investigation of how material realities such as technological, economic, and demographic factors mold and influence culture; and political economy, the analysis of how political institutions and economic systems influence each other within a specific time and place.