Toxic Subjects: Historical, Legal, Occupational, and Medical Perspectives - I

Abstract

Declared the 2018 “Word of the Year” by Oxford English Dictionary, “toxics” increasingly circulate—both physically and discursively—across various locales, traditions of thought, and communities of practice. From toxic exposure to toxic masculinity, this panel seeks to examine the expansive reach of toxicity. While many scholars of Science and Technology Studies have described the ways in which toxics trouble existing categories, this panel aims to expand theorization on how toxicity is mobilized across legal, scientific, and clinical domains as a source of injury. From courts of law, to the laboratory, to the clinic, how are toxic subjects rendered (il)legible? What are the affordances and complications of claiming toxic injury?

Discussant

• Alison Kenner, Drexel University

Individual Presentations

• Toxic Discourses: Science and Reputation in the Age of Radiation Omnipresence - Chikako Takeshita, University of California, Riverside

• You Can’t See Toxics, but You Can Be Very Agitated about Blowing Up - Chloe Ahmann, University of Chicago

• The Emotional Support for “Facts” in Environmental Health Activism - Amy Kuritzky, Rice University

• Ignorance and Illegible Subjects of Toxicity: The Case of PFOA Contamination in Hoosick Falls, New York - Laura Rabinow, RPI

Session Organizer

• Alli Morgan, RPI