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Abstract

This study examines how living with unsafe and degrading infrastructures leading to lead poisoning in Southern California is an embodied experience mediated by class, race, and late industrialism.

Core Analytical Categories

“Risk”  - a term that is used by multiple actors in my fieldsite; public health officials, environmental scientists, school board members and parents all use this term when referring to lead p

Designating Late Industrialism

This document charts the ways this project develops our understandings of late industrialism, and in turn, how late industrialism, as an analytic, increases our understanding of lead poisoning.

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Sara.Till

The film centers around Camp Lejuene, a Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The camp experienced contaminated water from about 1957 to 1987; the wells contained 240-300 times the allowed amount of volatile organic materials. The film follows the struggles of individuals who lived in Camp Lejuene during this time to receive information, compensation, and recognition for what they experienced. While many individuals are interviewed and discussed, the film specifically focuses on Jerry Ensminger, a former Marine Corps Master Sgt. for almost 25 years. Ensminger lost his daughter, Janie, to pediatric leukemia while living on the base. He is one of many parents and former residents who were directly effected by the contaminated water. The VOM's in the water included TCE, PCE, and benzene, all known to cause cancer and childhood defects.