Who Is the Parasite? On Balance and Resignation with Ticks, Pathogens and Woods in Some Italian Mountains

Tick-borne diseases are increasing in many parts of the world, including the Belluno province in Italy. This paper analyses ethnographic materials in dialogue with Serres’ reflections on who the parasite is and what it means to find balance in a relationship with it. Amidst local discussions on whether and what people could do to limit the expansion of ticks and infection risk, communities are well aware that how these two species act upon each other is a matter that involves many others too, as well as old and new ecological, economic and social dynamics. A dual realisation is in the making: that disease control depends only on the possibility of finding a point of equilibrium between the lives of humans, sheep, red deer, mice, ticks and forests and – at the same time – that this possibility comes with a certain amount of resignation that, I argue, is intrinsic in the relationship with parasites.