Fences are increasingly used to manage biological threats, from animal disease and invasive species to agricultural risk and environmental protection. In the name of biosecurity, they promise control: to stop movement, prevent contamination and protect vulnerable forms of life. But fences also do much more than separate inside from outside. In their edited volume Annika Pohl Harrisson and Michael Eilenberg bring together interdisciplinary case studies from Europe and North America to explore how fences are deployed across different contexts, and how they affect both human and non-human life. While biosecurity is often presented as a technical response to biological risk, the book shows how fencing practices are deeply political. By placing fencing at the centre of biosecurity politics, Fences and Biosecurity contributes to broader discussions about borders, environmental governance, political ecology and more-than-human relations. It offers a critical perspective on the growing reliance on containment as a response to ecological and biological uncertainty.
The book is edited by Annika Pohl Harrisson and Michael Eilenberg and published open access by Helsinki University Press.