Duke University Press Edges of Exposure: Toxicology and the Problem of Capacity in Postcolonial Senegal (Experimental Futures)

In the industrialized nations of the global North, well-funded agencies like the CDC attend to citizens' health, monitoring and treating for toxic poisons like lead. How do the under-resourced nations of the global South meet such challenges? In Edges of Exposure, Noémi Tousignant traces the work of toxicologists in Senegal as they have sought to warn of and remediate the presence of heavy metals and other poisons in their communities. Situating recent toxic scandals within histories of science and regulation in postcolonial Africa, Tousignant shows how decolonization and structural adjustment have impacted toxicity and toxicology research. Ultimately, as Tousignant reveals, scientists' capacity to conduct research—as determined by material working conditions, levels of public investment, and their creative but not always successful efforts to make visible the harm of toxic poisons—affects their ability to keep equipment, labs, projects, and careers going. Review "Edges of Exposure is certainly important reading for those interested in the history and anthropology of African health, science and technology studies in Africa, environmental health, and the growing literature on toxicologies. It is a great addition to these fields and greatly contributes to growing concerns over toxins in Africa."--Kristin Peterson "Catalyst" (7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) " Edges of Exposure . . . drives home the starkness of our uneven global economy of health. . . . Tousignant offers a much-needed ethnography of the ways that scientists can perform an emerging state, coupled with an in-depth exploration of the ramifications therein, and leaves us with the fundamental question of how to address global inequities that demand such precarious performances."--Marlee Tichenor "Somatosphere" (5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM) " Edges of Exposure has much to recommend it and belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in postcolonial and African science, toxic exposure and risk, global health, or contemporary Africa. At a brisk 149 pages of readable prose and relatively accessible academic language, it would also fit well on graduate or upper-level undergraduate reading lists."--Kirsten Moore-Sheeley "Journal of the History of Medicine" (10/12/2018 12:00:00 AM) " Edges of Exposure is a powerful contribution to ethnographically grounded STS research focused on toxicology, global environmental health science, and what might be termed postcolonial laboratory life. . . . It is a unique contribution to the broader anthropology of toxics and global environmental health science studies."--Peter C. Little "Anthropological Quarterly" (7/1/2018 12:00:00 AM) "Tousignant makes the consequences of precariousness, uncertainty, and lack of autonomy in research concrete and tangible. In this regard, Edges of Exposure provides a timely warning of the dangers to which, as inhabitants of an increasingly toxic, interconnected, and unequal world, we are all exposed, both as citizens and as public scientists." --Agata Mazzeo "Isis" (6/1/2019 12:00:00 AM) Review “Noémi Tousignant's innovative historical ethnography of Senegalese toxicology moves science and technology studies in Africa beyond familiar images of postcolonial domination and simplified historical continuities by carefully attending to the fragments of past efforts and their valence for present and future relations between science, state, and citizens. Without losing view of global exploitation and violence, her scrutiny of African scientific institutions' failure to protect citizens retains profound respect for the sustained efforts and achievements of African scientists, and their striving for civic and professional virtue, public service, and professional advancement. A must-read for all interested in twenty-first-century Africa, toxic exposures, and global science.” (Paul Wenzel Geissler, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo) “An impressive contribution to the historic