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Pandemic emergencies are one of the foremost examples of the turn to preparedness. In this article, I discuss how biological threats are conceptualized inside the frame provided by such turn, connecting with novel governance practices aimed at tackling the challenges posed by the constantly shifting boundaries of global health. First, I review existing literature related to the turn to preparedness. This turn has turned virtual biological threats into the main drivers for preparedness planning. Second, I use empirical material to argue a redefinition of biological threats as entities that go beyond the molecular boundaries of viruses, turning hybrid social networks into the main object of interest for global health response before infectious diseases. This reconceptualization is manifested in three different challenges to the boundaries of global health emergencies: (1) a temporal challenge, which forces institutions to struggle with situating the boundary between event and non-event; (2) an institutional challenge, which brings together different actors, institutions, and organizations redefining their internal and external boundaries; and (3) a spatial challenge, whereby the territorial lines of secure and insecure spaces become mobile and unstable. As a conclusion, I will argue that those three challenges and the redefinition of certain boundaries are ways to govern a wider divide constructed by preparedness that aims at separating the threat and an object of protection.

Recently, epidemics have become an important concern in social sciences. They currently have two important ways of conceptualizing epidemics: a) as a panic object; or b) as a bio-political situation. Nevertheless, these two perspectives disregard that epidemics basically are a way of transforming our daily life. In order to grasp this impact we put forward to conceptualize epidemics as a socio-technical object. Our paper will show this perspective. Analyzing mass media, information from academic journals, such as Science, or from Health Institutions we will explain how epidemics change the main borders of our everyday life. That is, the tension between animal-human, local-global, politics-nature and healthy-pathological. We will argue that after the aforementioned rupture appears a new redefinition of said limits with the following elements: a) medicine appears as the most relevant dimension in that redefinition; b) it is defined a kind of "biological emergency" as the way to understand the aforementioned process of redefinition; and c) a specific body regime is updated. ; Peer reviewed

In order to know how Catalonian citizens account water controversies in Spain, we analyzed six focus groups carried out in Catalonia in 2006. A concept of 'urban social identity' is used for our interpretations, having been adapted to highlight its interactional character. Tracking the spatial categories used in the discussions, we identified the variety of denominations employed to debate water problems in Spain. The analysis is focused on the most frequent categories to establish their utility and identify discursive actions that participants produce. Results indicate that speakers account the "water problems" mobilizing a common sense political geography that highlights the socio-spatial and conflicting character of water issues. ; In order to know how Catalonian citizens account water controversies in Spain, we analyzed six focus groups carried out in Catalonia in 2006. A concept of 'urban social identity' is used for our interpretations, having been adapted to highlight its interactional character. Tracking the spatial categories used in the discussions, we identified the variety of denominations employed to debate water problems in Spain. The analysis is focused on the most frequent categories to establish their utility and identify discursive actions that participants produce. Results indicate that speakers account the "water problems" mobilizing a common sense political geography that highlights the socio-spatial and conflicting character of water issues. ; Peer reviewed

In order to know how Catalonian citizens account water controversies in Spain, we analyzed six focus groups carried out in Catalonia in 2006. A concept of 'urban social identity' is used for our interpretations, having been adapted to highlight its interactional character. Tracking the spatial categories used in the discussions, we identified the variety of denominations employed to debate water problems in Spain. The analysis is focused on the most frequent categories to establish their utility and identify discursive actions that participants produce. Results indicate that speakers account the "water problems" mobilizing a common sense political geography that highlights the socio-spatial and conflicting character of water issues. ; Para acercarnos a cómo los ciudadanos catalanes dan cuenta de las controversias hídricas en España, se analizaron seis grupos de discusión realizados en Cataluña durante 2006. Se utilizó el concepto "identidad social espacial" para las interpretaciones, adaptándolo para resaltar su carácter interaccional. Al rastrear las categorías espaciales empleadas en las discusiones, se identificó la variedad de denominaciones usadas para debatir sobre los problemas hídricos en España. El análisis se centra en las denominaciones más usadas para determinar su utilidad e identificar las acciones discursivas que los participantes realizan con ellas. Los resultados indican que los hablantes dan cuenta de los "problemas del agua" movilizando una geografía política del sentido común que resalta el carácter socioespacial y conflictivo de los asuntos hídricos.