"Homesick is an ethnographic exploration of chemical poisoning from building materials, focusing on the 120,000 FEMA trailers supplied by the US government for emergency housing following Hurricane Katrina. These trailers, produced from engineered woods potent with formaldehyde, were notoriously toxic structures that contributed to further death and sickness in the already devastated areas of the Gulf Coast. The trailers were banned, but were frequently resold and again used for housing, scattering theirharm to other people and areas. Nicholas Shapiro, who has spent almost fifteen years working with community-based environmental groups, follows the paths of the trailers and their inhabitants, also reflecting on issues in doing this kind of ethnographic work. He broadens the focus to other toxic home environments as well, looking at the class and racial politics of who is affected. Exploring chemical and health effects, as well as community and individual efforts to achieve better life, health, and justice, Shapiro highlights how homesickness for an otherwise future can herald meaningful change"--
Nicholas Shapiro examines the US government s distribution of over 120,000 toxic trailers following Hurricane Katrina, their devastating health effects, and the need to create new forms of accountability and change.
Following Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) distributed over 120,000 trailers for emergency housing. Produced from engineered wood containing toxic amounts of formaldehyde, these shelters were vectors of illness and death. Although they were subsequently banned, FEMA trailers were resold and again used for housing, scattering their harm to other people and areas. In Homesick, Nicholas Shapiro draws on almost fifteen years working with impacted community members to trace how the story of toxic emergency housing units expands into a story of how all of our shelters became a seat of exposure and how we can collectively struggle for cleaner indoor air. Throughout, Shapiro questions the efficacy of the fundamental tools used to cultivate accountability, repair, and change, arguing for their reimagining. Detailing health effects as well as community and individual efforts to achieve better life, health, and justice, Shapiro highlights how homesickness for an otherwise future can herald meaningful change.
