'I've got the dust as well' : asbestos disease, litigation and laggers

Asbestos diseases are closely associated with cancer and death. They are therefore widely recognised for their insidious, fearsome and tainted nature. Through an examination of stress associated with disease, the paper explores the medical and legal framings of asbestos disease in the UK and complements them with an investigation of laggers’ (or thermal insulation engineers) personal and bodily experience of asbestos diseases. These emic perspectives are then contextualised through examination of the social and political-economic ramifications of disease and litigation in a context of increasing distrust of science and of authority. The paper argues that victims of asbestos-related diseases draw on – and extend – medical and statistical estimations of disease; but also challenge medical notions of cause and effect while advancing their perspective based on lived experience. The paper also shows that laggers are facing uncertain futures as a result of industrial exposure to asbestos, while their way of life and socio-economic standing is also under threat. Keywords: asbestos, laggers, thermal installation engineers, medical & legal, definitions of disease, science & trus

When social movements bypass the poor : asbestos pollution, international litigation and Griqua cultural identity

This paper examines citizen mobilisation and activism in relation to asbestos disease and litigation. Although the litigation of Cape plc, a British company mining asbestos in South Africa, has been seen as a success story in which local activists worked alongside international lawyers and environmental campaigners to force Cape plc to pay compensation to 7,500 former employees with asbestos-related diseases, many claimants experienced this case as a bitter defeat. The paper explores these divergent interpretations of the same litigation case, focusing on the experiences of two towns in the Northern Cape, South Africa, namely Prieska and Griquatown and on the claimants’ perspectives. The literature of social movements, political mobilisation, ethnic identity and millenarian movements is drawn upon in relation to the everyday economic and cultural experiences of people in these Northern Cape towns. In contrasting the relative isolation experienced by Griquatown residents with the networking and mobilisation process taking place in Prieska, the paper argues that this isolation undermines citizens’ ability to frame asbestos disease litigation as an international victory and as a case of justice being done. Instead claimants interpret their experiences in terms of local factors, including poverty, the history of asbestos payment, religious beliefs and, ultimately, in an idiom that corresponds with their ethnic identity. The paper thus suggests that neither theories of social mobilisation nor millenarian movements alone can adequately explain people’s emic interpretations of international litigation and political mobilisation. Rather, it is the linkages between these literatures, informed by an understanding of local ethnic identity, which provides a framework for understanding social behaviour

'Through no fault of your own' : asbestos diseases in South Africa and the UK

This paper explores people’s experience of asbestos-related diseases in relation to medicine, identity and gender. The paper adopts a comparative approach, examining the experiences of impoverished former asbestos mine workers in South Africa and working class factory workers and laggers in the United Kingdom (UK). These two areas are connected through the activities of Cape plc, a company that dealt with asbestos for about a hundred years, mining in the Northern Cape of South Africa and manufacturing and processing in Barking, in the UK. As indicated in the title, these industrial diseases are not contracted through worker negligence, but rather because of governments’ and managements’ framing of risk and the implementation of safety measures. The first part of the paper therefore contrasts authoritative and emic values through the examination of governmental recognition of risk and people’s own understandings of danger. The second part of the paper examines gendered and identity issues, focusing on how men’s masculinity is both undermined and bolstered through their involvement with asbestos production, while women’s identity is primarily vested in their household and primary caretaker role. Throughout the paper, a comparative anthropological approach focuses on the similarities of ‘meaning’ and subjective interpretations – as contrasted with the country specific medical, legal and political categorisations of disease with which these people regularly engage – highlighting how people experience, interpret and respond to asbestos-related diseases. Using an ‘effects made by gender approach’, the paper also examines how asbestos diseases intersect with identity, leading people to emphasise conventional gender roles. Keywords: asbestos related diseases, gendered identities, South Africa, UK, comparative framing of disease, pleural plaques, laggers, masculinity

Here you will remain : adolescent experience on farms in the Western Cape

Bibliography: pages 182-190.The thesis examines adolescent experience on two grape-growing farms in the Western Cape. Particular attention is paid to the daily lives of farm residents with special reference to adolescents and the power relations between farmers and farm residents and between males and females insofar as they affect adolescents. The current literature on conditions on white-owned farms in South Africa lacks detailed research at the micro-level. This thesis begins to fill the gaps in the literature by providing an understanding of how people on the farms pursue their day-to-day lives. Six months intensive fieldwork was conducted on two farms in the Western Cape. During this time participant observation was supplemented by a household survey, the correction of life-histories and interviews with farm residents. Adolescent labour was documented in both summer and winter by using observations, 24-hour recalls and instant checks. An important theme which recurs throughout the thesis is that of the entrapment and encapsulation of farm residents. I show that despite the fact that different people - men, women and adolescent girls and boys - have different options for resisting the constraints of farm existence, they remain trapped in the valley with few alternative opportunities for employment elsewhere

Centres of Excellence? Questions of Capacity for Innovation, Sustainability, Development

This paper explores what ‘mainstream’ Centres of Excellence might mean for developing countries and poor people. It examines how development is constructed as economic growth with industry and enterprise – complemented by centres of scientific excellence and technological innovation – as its key engine. It demonstrates that, in relation to science and centres of excellence, the discourse of networking and partnerships assumes that all interested parties evaluate progress, development and excellence similarly. The paper critically reviews the core notions of ‘excellence’, ‘centres’ and ‘capacity’, highlighting some alternative models of research, innovation and training. It argues that science and technology should not only address the principles of economic growth and excellence; but that broader principles should underlie capacity-building for science, technology and innovation. These principles direct the focus onto who benefits (and who is excluded) from science and technology, by highlighting the ‘3Ds’ of Directionality (towards specific Sustainability objectives); equitable Distribution (of costs, risks, benefits), and Diversity (of socio-techno-ecological systems)?ESR

Sexuality and the Law: Case Studies from Cambodia, Egypt, Nepal and South Africa

This paper provides a synthesis of five case studies on the relationship between sexuality and law. These case studies were undertaken as part of the Sexuality, Poverty and Law theme of the DFID-funded Accountable Grant that explores, among other things, the relationships between sexuality and development. The Sexuality and Law work aims to identify policy options and strategies for activist engagement with law and to inform the realisation of sexual rights. The work is particularly concerned with people negatively affected by laws on sex, gender and sexuality; with gaps in policy and inadequate implementation of laws that negatively affect people and their sexuality; and with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ)1 activism around legal and human rights issues.DFI