About VSS
The collaboration on Vital Systems Security (VSS) examines the techniques, forms of reasoning, and political ontologies that comprise contemporary security assemblages. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, and in the face of possible future catastrophes such as pandemic flu, the character of security has changed dramatically. Domains such as emergency response, public health preparedness, and system vulnerability have become central to security discussions in the United States and globally.
The collaboration asks how, in this context, security is being reproblematized as an object of knowledge, intervention, and political reflection. It proposes that the security of “vital systems” – such as energy, transportation, communication and health – is one significant new norm of contemporary security in relationship to which existing elements are being configured. The collaboration focuses in particular on the knowledge forms, techniques, and modes of intervention associated with vital systems security and asks how these relate to the older forms of population security and sovereign state security. Click on the links below for more on Vital Systems Security.
The Vital Systems Security collaboration is part of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory. It has received support from the National Science Foundation and from the Social Science Research Council.
More on VSS: