Article ID: CBB107480329

Of Perpetrators and Victims: Toxicity in Environmental History (July 2021)

unapi

Müller-Pohl, Simone (Author)
Borowy, Iris (Author)
Armiero, Marco (Author)
Mart, Michelle (Author)
Janelle Lamoreaux (Author)
Justine Philip (Author)


Environmental History
Volume: 26
Issue: 3
Pages: 409-410


Publication Date: July 2021
Edition Details: Forum: Of Perpetrators and Victims: Toxicity in Environmental History
Language: English

This forum unites the articles of six scholars whose different, but complementary, approaches shed light on some key themes of the environmental history of toxicity. One recurrent line of questioning asks who is to blame for the steady increase in poisons in the global environment over the past century. While Marco Armiero identifies capitalism as the main driving force, Michelle Mart and Iris Borowy see more deep-seated social and psychological dynamics at work. Simone Müller and Justine Philip take a middle position, while Janelle Lamoreaux does not regard the economic context as particularly relevant at all, pointing instead to the gendered way in which toxicants have been perceived and experienced.In a second, related thread running through the articles, the authors debate how to balance notions of victimization and agency. One approach focuses on the exposure to toxicants suffered by marginalized social groups and nonhuman actors, who are forced to shoulder a disproportionate toxic burden. Another approach highlights the degree to which the release of poisons has not only been an unintended by-product of various activities but also a tool, deliberately used to achieve multiple purposes.Several authors present specific concepts that they have developed as a way to frame various aspects of these discussions, including “wasteocene” (Armiero), the “toxic commons” (Müller), and the “fateful triangle of health” (Borowy). All contributors address the environmental history of toxicants not only as academics but also as participants of a toxin-filled world, both subjects and objects of the developments they analyze.

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Associated with

Article Justine Philip (July 2021) When Conservation Turns Violent: Examining New Zealand’s Use of Toxins in Defense of the Environment. Environmental History (pp. 451-460). unapi

Article Iris Borowy (July 2021) Making Sense of the History of Toxicity: How Poisonous Pasts May Have Touched Me and Everybody Else. Environmental History (pp. 411-424). unapi

Article Marco Armiero (July 2021) The Case for the Wasteocene. Environmental History (pp. 425-430). unapi

Article Michelle Mart (July 2021) Why Do We Poison Ourselves?. Environmental History (pp. 431-436). unapi

Article Janelle Lamoreaux (July 2021) Reproducing Toxicity. Environmental History (pp. 437-443). unapi

Article Müller-Pohl, Simone (July 2021) Toxic Commons: Toxic Global Inequality in the Age of the Anthropocene. Environmental History (pp. 444-450). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB107480329/

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Authors & Contributors
Bertomeu Sánchez, José Ramón
Gibbs, Frederick W.
Emsley, John
Mart, Michelle
Sarathy, Brinda
Arup K. Chatterjee
Concepts
Toxicology
Poisoning
Environmental pollution
Medicine
Environmental history
Toxins and antitoxins
Time Periods
19th century
Medieval
20th century, late
20th century
Early modern
Renaissance
Places
France
United States
Spain
Europe
China
India
Institutions
Académie des Sciences, Paris
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