¡Ahí viene la plaga!

¡Ahí viene la plaga! / Here come the pests!

¡Ahí viene la plaga! is an extradisciplinary and spatially intertwined project, located in specific territories with monoculture and agroecological plantations in the southern zone of Costa Rica (Brunca Region) and Xalapa, Mexico. These environments allow us to scrutinise, translate and communicate different socio-environmental aspects concerning the concept of ‘pest’. Through pest research, many stories are told and many questions asked. ‘Pests’ raise questions of which lives are worthy (Despret, 2018); or which lives fall under categories of anthropocentric benefit and damage.

The project is formed by two working groups, one from the Universidad Veracruzana in conjunction with the UNAM (Mexico City), and the other by the University of Costa Rica (San José). These working groups, composed of people from various disciplines, propose a methodological activation of the cracks that unfold and permeate the different knowledges engaged: artists, philosophers, biologists, agronomists and local communities. Through on-site work, conversations with various actors, ludic provocations, and gathering of theoretical and visual materials, the project deconstructs various dimensions of the concept of pest. Its final outputs are a freely accessible and redistributable fanzine (virtual and printed) and a video, aimed for activists, students, artists, agronomists, farmers, and anyone passionate in these topics.