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Knowing nature and community through mosquitoes: reframing pest management through lay vector ecologies

ABSTRACT This paper argues that mosquitoes help shape urban residents’ perspectives on and interactions with their human neighbours and the larger physical environment. A total of twenty-two residents of six Washington, D.C.-area neighbourhoods participated in interviews about mosquito management and community environmental issues. Participants came from households enrolled in a larger study about mosquito ecology and management. This and other studies have found that conventional mosquito-prevention education has mixed and sometimes counterproductive or unexpected impacts on resident attitudes and practices towards mosquito management. We found that residents constructed lay ecological knowledge to explain the place of mosquitoes in shifting urban socio-natures. Participants’ relational understanding of mosquitoes indicates that management interventions focusing on individual education and private space are insufficient. Overall, residents expressed concern about changing numbers, species, and vector potential of mosquitoes. They reported altering their own use of outdoor spaces due in part to concerns about mosquitoes but also expressed longing for renewed social and environmental engagement. Many participants also suspected their neighbours of practices that worsened infestations. To reshape traditional public health strategies, this paper proposes that health educators pursue community-based strategies that build upon residents’ lay knowledge and concerns, which may inspire engagement with urban socio-natures beyond their own backyards.