A sensory and visual approach for comprehending environmental victimization by the asbestos industry in Casale Monferrato

Abstract

Although Europe has banned asbestos since 2005, many of the occupational and environmental harms perpetrated by the industry are still appearing. The aim of this paper is to present a new methodological technique to explore and map the social perception of these environmental crimes and harms. In particular, we ask: how do social actors feel about and interpret asbestos-related environmental crimes and harms? To answer this question, we applied a technique defined as ‘itinerant soliloquy’ to a specific context: Casale Monferrato (Italy). As the cognitive dimension is not enough to catch the complexity of these events, the itinerant soliloquy tries to increase the value of the experiential and reflexive encounter of the walking, the observing, the interpreting and the narrating.