Near Human

Near Human examines the moral sensibilities and substitution practices through which human and non-human lives come to be valued, sustained, and included within the collectivity – or killed and excluded. In Svendsen’s masterful account, vivid stories from Denmark – about piglets and preemies, scientists and migrants, global exchanges and border closures – speak to fundamental questions about how human lives and societies get shaped, alongside the lives of animals. A breathtaking achievement! Janelle S. Taylor, author of The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram

In this pathbreaking book, Mette Svendsen shows the ways in which Denmark relies upon pigs as fodder for its welfare state. Expanding the frames of translational medicine, Svendsen shows how the pig figures as a source of health and wealth that sustains the Danish population. The human-animal nexus becomes a prism to explore the boundaries of the nation, its citizenry and the politics of (non)belonging. This compelling and beautifully written book shows just how much can be learned by making other-than-human animals central to medical anthropology. Carrie Friese, author of Cloning Wild Life: Zoos, Captivity, and the Future of Endangered Animals

Near Human examines the moral sensibilities and substitution practices through which human and non-human lives come to be valued, sustained, and included within the collectivity – or killed and excluded. In Svendsen’s masterful account, vivid stories from Denmark – about piglets and preemies, scientists and migrants, global exchanges and border closures – speak to fundamental questions about how human lives and societies get shaped, alongside the lives of animals. A breathtaking achievement! Janelle S. Taylor, author of The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram

In this pathbreaking book, Mette Svendsen shows the ways in which Denmark relies upon pigs as fodder for its welfare state. Expanding the frames of translational medicine, Svendsen shows how the pig figures as a source of health and wealth that sustains the Danish population. The human-animal nexus becomes a prism to explore the boundaries of the nation, its citizenry and the politics of (non)belonging. This compelling and beautifully written book shows just how much can be learned by making other-than-human animals central to medical anthropology. Carrie Friese, author of Cloning Wild Life: Zoos, Captivity, and the Future of Endangered Animals