DICE Book Launch and Discussion: Sick Work

Please join the Disability Inclusion and Community Empowerment (DICE) Affinity Group, Duke University Press, and the Department of Cultural Anthropology for the book launch of "Sick Work: Exhaustion, Labor, and Invisible Illness" by Dr. Emily Lim Rogers, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology. This event is being held in recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and Dr. Rogers will be in conversation with Dr. Catherine Clune-Taylor, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies.

From the book jacket:

In "Sick Work," Emily Lim Rogers shows the unpaid labor it takes to be recognized as sick in the United States. Through a historical and ethnographic account of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)-a disease defined by disproportionate exhaustion after any form of exertion, which has no cure or treatment-she reveals how changing formations of labor decide what counts as disability and what does not. Sickness, she writes, is not work's opposite. Rather, the frequent dismissal of their disease leaves people with ME/CFS to do their own labor of disease advocacy, or "sick work," even as their symptoms prevent many from working paid jobs. Rogers presents a history of the discursive construction of chronic fatigue and demonstrates its development alongside capitalism since the dawn of industrial management science in the late nineteenth century. These histories, she argues, echo through to the present day, shaping the denial of ME/CFS and the stigma that surrounds it. Examining the everyday lives of people with ME/CFS and their activist movements, "Sick Work" describes how they swim upstream against strong tides of disbelief and demands a radical transformation of how work is defined and valued.

This hybrid event will take place in-person and on Zoom. Accessible parking and building information can be found on the Libraries' website, and a selection of DICE-branded swag will be available for free. Human-assisted live captioning through Ava will be provided, while any additional accommodation requests should be directed to Access and Accommodation Services. Members of the Duke community can check out the book online through the Duke University Libraries, and the Gothic Bookshop will be on-site selling physical copies for signing.

Please register online to help us estimate attendance.

For any questions, contact DukeDICE@duke.edu.