Can mosquitoes (de)border? : geopolitical ecologies of Malaria in the inter-korean borderlands

Abstract

This article investigates the entanglement of ecology and geopolitics in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) through the lens of mosquito-borne malaria. Against the backdrop of intensifying climate change, infectious diseases, and the geopolitical tension between the two Koreas, this study examines how mosquitoes act as agents of bordering and debordering between North Korea and South Korea. Revisiting the Anthropocene’s implications for geopolitics and border studies, we critique rigid notions of sovereignty and fixed borders and propose a shift toward understanding borders as elastic, polymorphic spaces. The reemergence of malaria in the DMZ since the 1990s highlights these dynamics, challenging conventional geopolitical narratives and revealing new intersections of geopolitical ecologies. Through the framework of geopolitical ecology, this article analyzes the role of mosquitoes as cross-border vectors, reshaping the boundaries of political and ecological sovereignty and influencing inter-Korean politics. This article argues that mosquitoes, as nonhuman actors, challenge human-centric geopolitical frameworks. This study highlights the DMZ’s dual identity as a site of both division and connection, questioning the role of disease in shaping interspecies politics and offering a novel perspective on borders as sites of geo-biopolitical intersection.