Institute of Development Studies

Asbestos Diseases

'Scientific Definitions And Gendered Identities'

This research examines people's experience of asbestos related diseases. It seeks to explore how people feel after contracting the disease and how it affects them personally. The research contrasts these personal experiences to scientific and legal understandings of asbestos diseases. It examines in what ways people suffering from asbestos disease agree - or disagree - with these medical and legal definitions of what causes the disease, of how it might be treated, of who should be compensated and so forth. The aim is to understand how people interpret their experiences, what values they draw upon to do so and how illness shapes their identities. This research thus aims to explore how people in affected areas are engaging with Asbestos-Related Diseases and with scientific, medical and legal discourses, and how this engagement is shaped by, and in turn shapes, gendered and other forms of identity.

• IDS key contact: Linda Waldman
• Project dates: January 2005 - March 2007
• Project status: Closed
• Funder: ESRC Science in Society Research Programme
• Total project value:£ 48,269

Selected Outputs

• Waldman, L. (2007) ''I've Got the Dust as Well': Asbestos Disease, Litigation and Laggers', IDS Working Paper 287, Brighton: IDS
• Waldman, L (2006) 'Science, Litigation and Laggers: The case of Asbestos', Science, Ethnicity and the Lifecycle brochure , London: ESRC
• Waldman, L (2005) 'When Social Movements Bypass the Poor: Asbestos Pollution, International Litigation and Griqua Cultural Identity', IDS Working Paper 246, Brighton: