ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on more-than-human thought and practice to examine the relationship between humans and microbes. It explores how microbes have been configured variously as (i) nonhuman germs to be contained and controlled through microbiopolitical hygiene practices; (ii) an essential part of what makes us humans or holobionts, agglomerations of a human host and their microbiota which function as dynamic ecosystems; and (iii) welcome guests both within and without human bodies, with whom we might seek out probiotic encounters through practices such as fermentation and composting. Drawing on these examples, it demonstrates the value of a more-than-human perspective for conceptualising, engaging and intervening in human-microbe encounters in order to explore possibilities for human and environmental health.
