Without microbes, no other forms of life would be possible. But what does it mean to be with microbes? With Microbes sets microbes and the multiple ways they exist around, in and on humans at center stage. In this book, 24 social scientists and artists attune to microbes and describe their complicated relationships with humans and other beings. The book shows the multiplicity of these relationships and their dynamism, through detailed ethnographies of the relationships between humans, animals, plants, and microbes.
"bringing microbes into the focus of what it means to be human.. a reconsideration of the dichotomy between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’...an emphasis on community rather than immunity"