Romana and the Others. Female Narrative on Asbestos in Casale Monferrato

Abstract

The tragedy of asbestos contamination in Casale Monferrato, due to the Eternit factory closed down in 1986, is not over yet: the peak value for deaths due to pleural mesothelioma – more than 1300 deaths so far – is expected between 2020 and 2025. Since late 1970s the small town has been the protagonist of a mobilization organized by the territorial union which succeeded in "coming out from the factory" and in addressing the local community on the whole: traditional mindsets of workers' organizations were thus overcome, as well as those usually focused, with a few exceptions, on job-defense and on "money value for the risk". Yet, it was mainly thanks to female narratives created and circulated by people as Romana Blasotti Pavesi - from 1988 to 2015 the president of the association for the victims of asbestos - and other women engaged in the teaching, medical and media professions, that the tragedy of asbestos was successfully experienced in the community identity framework, so to become an integration issue able to blend inside the city shared feeling of grief and commitment to defense of environment and health.