Andrew Lakoff
Andrew Lakoff is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Southern California, where he also directs the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life. His most recent book is Planning for the Wrong Pandemic (Polity, 2024).
Issues edited by Andrew Lakoff
Articles authored by Andrew Lakoff
Is Limn Obsolete?
The founding editors reflect on the journal’s
origins
The Zone of Entrainment
We know that environmental concerns have been used to block infrastructure projects. But can infrastructure be used to side-step environmental concerns? Andrew Lakoff on water provision and species protection in California.
The Bombing Encyclopedia of the World
How do you plan for the sudden onset of total war? Stephen J. Collier and Andrew Lakoff describe the construction of a vast collection of data about the vital, vulnerable systems of every nation in the world in the aftermath of World War II.
Two States of Emergency: Ebola 2014
Andrew Lakoff revisits the received wisdom that the WHO was slow to respond. Slow to respond to what exactly?
Timeline: Ebola 2014
The timeline of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, compiled by Andrew Lakoff
Introduction: Ebola’s Ecologies
Andrew Lakoff, Stephen J. Collier and Christopher Kelty ask what the 2014 Ebola outbreak tells us about the history of pandemic preparedness and the blindspots of global health security today.
A Dearth of Numbers: The Actuary and the Sentinel in Global Public Health
How do experts respond to a threat whose probability cannot be calculated but whose consequences could be catastrophic? Andrew Lakoff explores the political dynamics of sentinel devices in the case of the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
Figures of Warning
What are sentinels? Frédéric Keck and Andrew Lakoff explore various figures of prophecy, herald and prognostication through the ages.
Preface: Sentinel Devices
The editors of Limn Number 3 explain what a sentinel is and how it matters today.
System Vulnerability and the Problem of National Survival
Stephen J. Collier and Andrew Lakoff explode strategic bombing theory and the emergence of system-vulnerability thinking.
Introduction: Systemic Risk
Stephen J. Collier and Andrew Lakoff introduce the concept of "systemic risk" and the focus of Limn Number 1.