Special Section: After anthropocentrism? Environmental conflicts, social movements and power, edited by Alexander Koensler and Cristina Papa

From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia

Author: Gaetano Mangiameli (University of Bologna, Italy)

  • From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia

    Special Section: After anthropocentrism? Environmental conflicts, social movements and power, edited by Alexander Koensler and Cristina Papa

    From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia

    Author:

Abstract

From a political ecology perspective, anthropogenic threats to the environment can be understood in terms of a lack of power by local people. By analysing discourses about the spread of leukemia in rural Eastern Sicily, the connection between 'toxic environments' and 'damage to human health' is mediated by a concern about democracy, meaning a condition that is to be attained and refreshed continuously through the active participation of citizens. In this case study, I argue that leukemia becomes a socio-political disease that stems from political apathy.

Keywords: Leukemia, Sicily, environment, apathy, children

How to Cite:

Mangiameli, G., (2013) “From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia”, Journal of Political Ecology 20(1), 318-328. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/v20i1.21770

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Published on
01 Dec 2013
Peer Reviewed