Grassroots Literacy and the Written Record : A Textual History of Asbestos Activism in South Africa / John Trimbur.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trimbur, John, Author.

Series:

Studies in knowledge production and participation ; 2.

Studies in Knowledge Production and Participation

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociolinguistics--South Africa--Kuruman.

Sociolinguistics.

Literacy--Political aspects--South Africa--Kuruman.

Literacy.

Asbestos industry--Health aspects--South Africa--Kuruman.

Asbestos industry.

Asbestos--Law and legislation--South Africa--Kuruman.

Asbestos.

Asbestos miners--Political activity--South Africa--Kuruman.

Asbestos miners.

Evidence, Documentary--South Africa--Kuruman.

Evidence, Documentary.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (194 pages).

Place of Publication:

Blue Ridge Summit, PA : Multilingual Matters, [2020]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book examines how asbestos activists living in remote rural villages in South Africa activated metropolitan resources of representation at the grassroots level in a quest for justice and restitution for the catastrophic effects on their lives caused by the asbestos industry. It follows the Asbestos Interest Group (AIG) over a fifteen-year period through its involvement in grassroots research, in legal cases and in the compensation systems for asbestos-related disease. It examines how the AIG became grassroots technicians of translocal paperwork, moving texts back and forth between periphery and center, pushing documents through the textual mazeways of the courts, medical institutions, the compensation system and various government agencies. The book addresses rhetorical mobility and the extent to which, given the AIG’s position on the periphery, it has been able to enter the voices and interests of villagers into formerly inaccessible forums of deliberation and decision-making.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Preface

Introduction

1. On the Periphery: Life and Literacy in the Kuruman District

2. Asbestos Mining and the Written Record: A Brief History

3. The Emergence of Asbestos Activism: From the ‘Period of Non-awareness’ to the National Asbestos Summit of 1998

4. Grassroots Activism and the Mobility of Documents: The Formation of the Asbestos Interest Group

5. Insurgent Lawfare and the Gencor Case: From Asbestos-related Disease Suff erers to Plaintiff s

6. ‘The Lawyer Stole the Money’: The Political Economy of Certifi able Asbestos-related Disease

Conclusion: Grassroots Activism, Popular Participation and Contextual Spaces

References

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 07. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

9781788926829

178892682X

9781788926812

1788926811

OCLC:

1114272784