In the industrialized nations of the global North, well-funded agencies like the CDC attend to citizens' health, monitoring and treating for toxic poisons like lead. How do the under-resourced nations of the global South meet such challenges? In Edges of Exposure, Noémi Tousignant traces the work of toxicologists in Senegal as they have sought to warn of and remediate the presence of heavy metals and other poisons in their communities. Situating recent toxic scandals within histories of science and regulation in postcolonial Africa, Tousignant shows how decolonization and structural adjustment have impacted toxicity and toxicology research. Ultimately, as Tousignant reveals, scientists' capacity to conduct research—as determined by material working conditions, levels of public investment, and their creative but not always successful efforts to make visible the harm of toxic poisons—affects their ability to keep equipment, labs, projects, and careers going.
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Following Senegalese toxicologists as they struggle to keep equipment, labs, and projects operating, Noémi Tousignant explores the impact of insufficient investments in scientific capacity in postcolonial Africa.
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Acknowledgments  ix Introduction: Poisons and Unprotection in Africa  1 1. After Interruption: Recovering Movement in the Polyrhythmic Laboratory  25 2. Advancement: Futures of Toxicology during "la Coopération"  59 3. Routine Rhythms and the Regulatory Imagination  85 4. Prolonging Project Locustox, Instrastructuring Sahelian Ecotoxicology  105 5. Waiting/Not Waiting for Poison Control  125 Epilogue. Partial Privileges  143 Notes  151 Bibliography  179 Index  205
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"Edges of Exposure has much to recommend it and belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in postcolonial and African science, toxic exposure and risk, global health, or contemporary Africa. At a brisk 149 pages of readable prose and relatively accessible academic language, it would also fit well on graduate or upper-level undergraduate reading lists."
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“Noémi Tousignant's innovative historical ethnography of Senegalese toxicology moves science and technology studies in Africa beyond familiar images of postcolonial domination and simplified historical continuities by carefully attending to the fragments of past efforts and their valence for present and future relations between science, state, and citizens. Without losing view of global exploitation and violence, her scrutiny of African scientific institutions' failure to protect citizens retains profound respect for the sustained efforts and achievements of African scientists, and their striving for civic and professional virtue, public service, and professional advancement. A must-read for all interested in twenty-first-century Africa, toxic exposures, and global science.”
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780822371243
Publisert
2018-05-11
Utgiver
Vendor
Duke University Press
Vekt
318 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, UP, 06, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Noémi Tousignant is Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies at University College London.