Call for papers
Valencia 13-14 May 2027
A symposium hosted by the Instituto Interuniversitario López Piñero, Universitat de València,
Organisers: Stephanie Wright (Lancaster University) and José Ramón Bertomeu Sánchez (Universitat de València)
We live in an increasingly toxic world. Over the past two centuries, incalculable harm has been done by the unregulated, and frequently unpoliced, poisoning of populations by substances incompatible with human health (Bertomeu Sánchez, 2020; Boudia-Jas, 2019; Rankin Bohme, 2015). The conditions of such damage have varied widely. High profile cases such as asbestos or silicosis have thrown into relief the workplace as a habitual site of harm (Berry, Newhouse, and Wagner, 2000; Ronald and McIvor, 2000; Rosental, 2017). Environmental hazards caused by political mismanagement have also played a role, as the recent poisoning of water supplies in Flint (Michigan, USA) demonstrates (Pauli, 2019). Pharmaceutical disasters deriving from corporate negligence, such as the thalidomide crisis from the late 1950s, have caused disability on a mass scale (Stephens and Brynner, 2001; Johnson, Stokes, and Arndt, 2018). Even the domestic sanctuary of the home has been penetrated by toxic substances, from dangerous pesticides in our everyday food to the lead paint affecting children (Markowitz-Rosen 2013). Moreover, epidemiologists have increasingly highlighted raised rates of asthma and other serious lung conditions amongst the inhabitants of polluted areas (Yoo et.al, 2025). Far from constituting a historical problem, scholars of toxicology have stressed that such episodes constitute some of the most urgent public health concerns facing the world today (Rosental, 2017; Rosner-Markowitz 2024).
Existing works have tended to focus on the trajectories of the toxic substances themselves, or on fatalities—especially cancer deaths—resulting from prolonged contact with them (Markowitz and Rosen, 2014; Rothschild, 2016; Sellers, 2014), particularly in so-called “cancer alleys”, “chemical corridors” and other “sacrifice zones” (Allen 2003; Nixon 2011; Lerner 2010). Environmental justice scholars have showed that toxic exposures intersect with other forms of social inequality related to class, gender or colonialism (Guthman 2019; Liboiron 2021; Steere-Williams, 2024).
Despite the countless examples linking toxic substances to human disablement, fewer studies have sought to address historically the intersection of toxicology and long-term disability. This workshop seeks to address this lacuna, bringing disability and toxicology studies into dialogue with each other. The workshop will develop a journal special issue, interrogating the historical processes that have a) facilitated the disabling of human populations by toxic substances, b) conditioned governmental, societal, industrial, and activist responses to such disability, and c) shaped individual experiences of toxic-related disability.
We encourage proposals from a broad range of contexts and perspectives drawn from any period in history, addressing cases of a diverse nature, including but not restricted to:
· Industrial, pharmaceutical, medical, corporate, and/or environmental causes of disablement;
· Disability deriving from everyday forms of consumption, including nutritional or medical cultures linked to obesity or painkiller addiction;
· Disabling toxicities of a local, regional, national, international, and/or transnational nature;
· Governmental responses and/or initiatives to address and/or mitigate the disabling effects of toxic substances, including the ‘privileging’ of certain victim groups over others;
· Disability activism (victims’ associations, environmental health groups, trade-unions, etc.) led by those affected by toxic substances;
· The at times complicated relationships between toxic substances and the populations they harm, including cases of addiction and/or material dependence;
· Identity and everyday experiences of those disabled by toxic substances, including how these may vary according to identity markers such as age, gender, class, ethnicity, nationality, and disability type.
Proposals consisting of a 250-word abstract and 50-word bibliography should be sent to s.wright9@lancaster.ac.uk and jose.r.bertomeu@uv.es no later than Friday 4 December. Participants selected for the symposium will be expected to submit by mid-April a draft paper of 2000-3000 words for pre-circulation.
The symposium is kindly funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and some limited funding is available to support travel and accommodation costs for speakers without alternative resources wishing to attend.
A symposium hosted by the Instituto Interuniversitario López Piñero, Universitat de València,
Organisers: Stephanie Wright (Lancaster University) and José Ramón Bertomeu Sánchez (Universitat de València)
We live in an increasingly toxic world. Over the past two centuries, incalculable harm has been done by the unregulated, and frequently unpoliced, poisoning of populations by substances incompatible with human health (Bertomeu Sánchez, 2020; Boudia-Jas, 2019; Rankin Bohme, 2015). The conditions of such damage have varied widely. High profile cases such as asbestos or silicosis have thrown into relief the workplace as a habitual site of harm (Berry, Newhouse, and Wagner, 2000; Ronald and McIvor, 2000; Rosental, 2017). Environmental hazards caused by political mismanagement have also played a role, as the recent poisoning of water supplies in Flint (Michigan, USA) demonstrates (Pauli, 2019). Pharmaceutical disasters deriving from corporate negligence, such as the thalidomide crisis from the late 1950s, have caused disability on a mass scale (Stephens and Brynner, 2001; Johnson, Stokes, and Arndt, 2018). Even the domestic sanctuary of the home has been penetrated by toxic substances, from dangerous pesticides in our everyday food to the lead paint affecting children (Markowitz-Rosen 2013). Moreover, epidemiologists have increasingly highlighted raised rates of asthma and other serious lung conditions amongst the inhabitants of polluted areas (Yoo et.al, 2025). Far from constituting a historical problem, scholars of toxicology have stressed that such episodes constitute some of the most urgent public health concerns facing the world today (Rosental, 2017; Rosner-Markowitz 2024).
Existing works have tended to focus on the trajectories of the toxic substances themselves, or on fatalities—especially cancer deaths—resulting from prolonged contact with them (Markowitz and Rosen, 2014; Rothschild, 2016; Sellers, 2014), particularly in so-called “cancer alleys”, “chemical corridors” and other “sacrifice zones” (Allen 2003; Nixon 2011; Lerner 2010). Environmental justice scholars have showed that toxic exposures intersect with other forms of social inequality related to class, gender or colonialism (Guthman 2019; Liboiron 2021; Steere-Williams, 2024).
Despite the countless examples linking toxic substances to human disablement, fewer studies have sought to address historically the intersection of toxicology and long-term disability. This workshop seeks to address this lacuna, bringing disability and toxicology studies into dialogue with each other. The workshop will develop a journal special issue, interrogating the historical processes that have a) facilitated the disabling of human populations by toxic substances, b) conditioned governmental, societal, industrial, and activist responses to such disability, and c) shaped individual experiences of toxic-related disability.
We encourage proposals from a broad range of contexts and perspectives drawn from any period in history, addressing cases of a diverse nature, including but not restricted to:
· Industrial, pharmaceutical, medical, corporate, and/or environmental causes of disablement;
· Disability deriving from everyday forms of consumption, including nutritional or medical cultures linked to obesity or painkiller addiction;
· Disabling toxicities of a local, regional, national, international, and/or transnational nature;
· Governmental responses and/or initiatives to address and/or mitigate the disabling effects of toxic substances, including the ‘privileging’ of certain victim groups over others;
· Disability activism (victims’ associations, environmental health groups, trade-unions, etc.) led by those affected by toxic substances;
· The at times complicated relationships between toxic substances and the populations they harm, including cases of addiction and/or material dependence;
· Identity and everyday experiences of those disabled by toxic substances, including how these may vary according to identity markers such as age, gender, class, ethnicity, nationality, and disability type.
Proposals consisting of a 250-word abstract and 50-word bibliography should be sent to s.wright9@lancaster.ac.uk and jose.r.bertomeu@uv.es no later than Friday 4 December. Participants selected for the symposium will be expected to submit by mid-April a draft paper of 2000-3000 words for pre-circulation.
The symposium is kindly funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and some limited funding is available to support travel and accommodation costs for speakers without alternative resources wishing to attend.
