Microbial assemblages: an ethnographic study of small scale dairy farming and AMR in Kenya

The growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major concern for the global health community who argue that, if left unchecked, AMR will contribute to increased disease burden, loss of lives, and increased costs of treatment. AMR is seen as a threat to public health, economic development and food security.

This raises important questions for anthropologists interested in how global health interventions shape the life-worlds of people targeted by them, how outcomes are shaped by social-ecological context, and the flexibility of models across diverse social and bio-ecological systems. Animal farming, and dairy farming in particular, are of concern for the global health community.

However, there are few ethnographic studies on the topic and the application of "rational" models denies the realities of farmers and other stakeholders on the ground.

Working alongside / ESRC NINE DTP Postgraduate Studentship Nomination Form / Page 3 of 16 a collaborative organisation delivering a major AMR surveillance project in dairy farms in Kenya, this PhD project will explore how global and national AMR policies are experienced by farmers and other actors involved in AMR surveillance.

The proposed study will enrich understanding of the husbandary practices of dairy farmers, their antimicrobial utilization and biosecurity practices.

More broadly, it provides an opportunity to explore contributions of anthropological perspectives to microbial relations that are relevant to conversations on antimicrobial stewardship.

Treating AMR as 'global assemblage', and building on recent anthropological literatures on human-microbe relations, this project will offer applied insights for improving anti-microbial surveillance in Kenya alongside critical theorisations of how AMR is understood and policies are designed and enacted.