Segmenting Time, Escaping Ecology

• In Event: Time-Scapes of Toxicity (2): Time of Knowing

Abstract

In academic and business discussions, risk is frequently associated with the future. However, in the context of work-related illness claims, risk often emerges in retrospect. It is a conceptual lens through which one understands the past alongside the present. This paper examines contention over the temporal aspects of injury, based on ethnographic research at an occupational safety and health advocacy group in California. We focus on a high-profile lawsuit against a large US company, filed by some of its former employees who attributed their illnesses, such as cancers, to toxic chemicals in their work environment. A special attention is paid to a key defense theme developed by attorneys for the company: “real time” versus “litigation time.” We analyze how the defendant’s insistence on the separation of the past from the present undermined the sick workers’ right (and authority) to speak about their illnesses. We also discuss how this segmentation of time was combined with the defendant’s effort to detach the plaintiffs’ bodies from their work environment. We suggest that these temporal and spatial separations dispelled the notion of industrial ecology and objectified workers’ injuries.

Authors

• Yoonjung Lee, KAIST

• Seung Hee Cho, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)