The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China
Based on fieldwork in a heavily industrialized Yunnan village, this article examines how villagers understand and respond to pollution-related health risks. Building on Robert Weller's (2006) concept of environmental consciousness, it shows that Baocun villagers have developed an acute environ...
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| Fformat: | Journal article |
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Cambridge University Press
2013
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| _version_ | 1826271863061348352 |
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| author | Lora-Wainwright, A |
| author_facet | Lora-Wainwright, A |
| author_sort | Lora-Wainwright, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Based on fieldwork in a heavily industrialized Yunnan village, this article examines how villagers understand and respond to pollution-related health risks. Building on Robert Weller's (2006) concept of environmental consciousness, it shows that Baocun villagers have developed an acute environmental health consciousness. However, despite earlier instances of collective activism, they no longer act as a community to oppose the harm to their bodies caused by pollution. The article investigates the role of uncertainty surrounding illness causation in deterring action. It argues that uncertainty about pollution's effects on health is reinforced by the social, political and economic contexts and developments in the past few decades. As a result, villagers engage in a form of “lay epidemiology” to make sense of the effects of pollution on their health, but not in a “popular epidemiology” consisting of collective action against presumed health damages. The article concludes with some thoughts on how locals act within and despite uncertainty. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:03:26Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:4f5e659f-3fdb-4bfd-acf9-0b513c84ddee |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:03:26Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4f5e659f-3fdb-4bfd-acf9-0b513c84ddee2022-03-26T16:06:40ZThe inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in ChinaJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:4f5e659f-3fdb-4bfd-acf9-0b513c84ddeeSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2013Lora-Wainwright, A Based on fieldwork in a heavily industrialized Yunnan village, this article examines how villagers understand and respond to pollution-related health risks. Building on Robert Weller's (2006) concept of environmental consciousness, it shows that Baocun villagers have developed an acute environmental health consciousness. However, despite earlier instances of collective activism, they no longer act as a community to oppose the harm to their bodies caused by pollution. The article investigates the role of uncertainty surrounding illness causation in deterring action. It argues that uncertainty about pollution's effects on health is reinforced by the social, political and economic contexts and developments in the past few decades. As a result, villagers engage in a form of “lay epidemiology” to make sense of the effects of pollution on their health, but not in a “popular epidemiology” consisting of collective action against presumed health damages. The article concludes with some thoughts on how locals act within and despite uncertainty. |
| spellingShingle | Lora-Wainwright, A The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title | The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title_full | The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title_fullStr | The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title_short | The inadequate life: rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China |
| title_sort | inadequate life rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in china |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lorawainwrighta theinadequateliferuralindustrialpollutionandlayepidemiologyinchina AT lorawainwrighta inadequateliferuralindustrialpollutionandlayepidemiologyinchina |