Summary of Renisa Mawani - Insect Knowledges and War Machines

00:00:00 - 00:35:00

Renisa Mawani discusses the role of insects in war machines and how they are used as a way to extend human senses. She talks about the importance of insects in the world, and how they are used as metaphors in various contexts. She also discusses the conference on organizing based on this idea between anthropologists and honey bees.

• 00:00:00 Renisa Mawani discusses the role of insects in war machines, and how their incorporation into regimes of surveillance has led to changes in how war is waged.
• 00:05:00 Insects have been seen as agents of power and knowledge, and their ability to convert vegetation into food has been seen as a key factor in the growth of resource-efficient food crops. Scholars working on Empire have begun to focus on the way insects have influenced and shaped colonial and imperial processes.
• 00:10:00 The article discusses the use of honeybees as tools in the military, and how they have been used as a way to extend human senses in order to identify dangers. There are still many problems with the use of honeybees in this way, as they are not as efficient as dogs in detecting landmines.
• 00:15:00 The video discusses the importance of insects in the world, and how Bergson, a philosopher of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, believed that life should be approached in a more holistic way, rather than focusing on quantitative measurements. The article goes on to say that, following Bergson's ideas, evolutionary changes happen everywhere, not just in nature, and that this is especially true in cities. The article also mentions the New York Times' article, "Bedbugs: A Pest of New York City?" which states that the city's bedbug infestation is due to increasing population density and the resistance of pesticides to bedbugs. The advisory board of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommended the creation of a bedbug portal, devoted to bedbug facts, public education statistics, bedbug cartography, and legal issues. They also recommended the creation of a bedbug Academy, which would provide education on bedbug prevention and treatment as well as debt and education on bedbug treatments and prevention.
• 00:20:00 Renisa Mawani discusses her experiences with bedbugs, which have led to anxiety and stress. She recommends avoiding moving to or living in a city with bedbug problems, and using online resources to learn about the life cycle of bedbugs and how to deal with them. She also suggests using technology to identify hotels and neighborhoods where bedbugs are likely to be found.
• 00:25:00 The video discusses the role of honeybees and bedbugs in the production of knowledge in war machines. It discusses how this knowledge is essential to the functioning of the war machine, and how it is threatened by new wars that extend beyond the human.
• 00:30:00 Renisa Mawani discusses the immense amounts of knowledge that is involved in the study of insects, including their military technologies. She also points to the ways in which insects are used as metaphors in various contexts, such as colonial history.
• 00:35:00 Renisa Mawani discusses the importance of the nonhuman in relation to war machines and insect knowledges. She talks about the hierarchy of protocols in a lab, and how the cheap can create and destroy them. She also talks about the different levels of archives of the human and nonhuman, and how certain insects are considered useful to humans. Mawani discusses how a conference on organizing based on this idea between anthropologists and honey bees would be beneficial.