Main description:

This open access book charts how South Africa's gold mines have systematically suppressed evidence of hazardous work practices and the risks associated with mining.

For most of the twentieth century, South Africa was the world's largest producer of gold. Although the country enjoyed a reputation for leading the world in occupational health legislation, the mining companies developed a system of medical surveillance and workers' compensation which compromised the health of black gold miners, facilitated the spread of tuberculosis, and ravaged the communities and economies of labour-sending states. The culmination of two decades of meticulous archival research, this book exposes the making, contesting, and unravelling of the companies' capacity to shape - and corrupt - medical knowledge.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: A most modern industry: the migrant labour system and crisis management: 1880 -2022
Chapter 3: Mapping and resolving a health crisis: 1902 -1929
Chapter 4: Identifying risk and compensating tuberculosis: 1916 - 1957
Chapter 5: Lifting the ban on the recruitment of Tropical labour: 1933-1945
Chapter 6: The research community, risk and evidence: 1912 - 1932
Chapter 7: Tuberculosis, malnutrition and mining in South Africa: 1903 - 1960
Chapter 8: Tuberculosis and migrant labour in the High Commission Territories: Bechuanaland: 1985-1998
Chapter 9: Tuberculosis and migrant labour in the High Commission Territories: Basutoland and Swaziland: 1912-2005
Chapter 10: Contests over labour in British central African colonies: 1935 - 1953
Chapter 11: Dissenting voices: 1902 -1956
Chapter 12: The career of A. J. Orenstein: 1914 - -1960
Chapter 13: Technologies, care and repatriations: 1926-1966
Chapter 14: Things fall apart: independent research, asbestos litigation, and the gold miners' class action: 1983 - 2019
Chapter 15: Conclusion: records, bodies and contested justice