HERD/Epithelia
The Institute for Contemporary Critical Thought is pleased to invite you to join us for a seminar and discussion with Professor Steve Hinchliffe under our theme HERD.
Since March 2026, we have continued to gather collectively to think with the figure of the HERD. Led by an eclectic range of thinkers, and provoked by selected readings, each session in this series experiments with the concept’s many permutations to rethink HERD as/Species, as HERD/The Masses, as HERD/Atmospherics, as HERD/Colonial Frontiers and on 18 November, we have HERD/Epithelia.
We are thrilled to have Steve Hinchliffe join us to discuss his work on Epithelial Geographies and Multi-Scopic Earthly Terrains.
It’s a small world, unless you’re a microbe. Instead of distances becoming shorter and things speeding up, and the world being characterized only by its sameness, things are also expanding, multiplying, and becoming more uneven. Alongside Marx’s annihilation of space by time or Harvey’s time-space compression, there is time-space proliferation. Living in the Anthropocene is marked by inflammation, biochemical alterations, division, and differentiation. From urban lungs to swelling livestock numbers, earthly terrains are shifting, blistering, and taking on lives of their own. In this paper, I add to recent theorizations of microbe-society relations by focusing on epithelial geographies and multi-scopic earthly terrains.From COVID-19 to American udders and global chickens, I outline a planetary condition that challenges conventional epidemiology to move beyond microbial matters. Swerving anthropomorphism, seeing like a virus aims to generate a form of perceptual reciprocity, a more-than-human phenomenology, wherein people feel viruses and others seeing ‘us’.
The HERD series is shepherded by Kari Lancaster, Marsha Rosengarten, and Nele Jensen.
Pre-reading to stimulate reflection and discussion for the session will be forwarded to those who register.
Please register to attend and to receive pre-reading sent before the session.
The event is FREE, but we will be grateful for your support through a regular or one-off donation. Hence the pay-what-you-can system of ticketing. Any amount you donate will help us continue creating a space where critical thought and collective inquiry are open and accessible. If you’re unable to make a donation at this time, please feel free to write “0” on the amount.