Life without Lead examines the social, political, and environmental dimensions of a devastating lead poisoning epidemic. Drawing from a political ecology of health perspective, the book situates the Uruguayan lead contamination crisis in relation to neoliberal reform, globalization, and the resurgence of the political Left in Latin America. The author traces the rise of an environmental social justice movement, and the local and transnational circulation of environmental ideologies and contested science. Through fine-grained ethnographic analysis, this book shows how combating contamination intersected with class politics, explores the relationship of lead poisoning to poverty, and debates the best way to identify and manage an unprecedented local environmental health problem.
Daniel Renfrew is Associate Professor of Anthropology at West Virginia University.
List of Illustrations and MapsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Saturn’s Nightmare1 • To Live, Not Only Survive2 • This Is Not a Game3 • La Teja Shall Sing4 • The Two Fires of ANCAP5 • New House, New Life6 • We Are All ContaminatedConclusion: Contamination, Crisis, and HopeNotesBibliographyIndex
"Beginning in the early 2000s, large numbers of Montevideo residents learned that their health problems had been caused by widespread lead contamination. This volume looks at social, political and environmental factors that the author believes contributed to the problem and influenced how it was dealt with."
