Anthropology of toxicity

More-than-human worlds after disaster

Abstract

This work investigates soil toxicity after the collapse of the Mariana dam (MG), in 2015, through dialogue with soil scientists and laboratory ethnography. Supported by Social Studies of Science and Technology (SSST), feminist critique, and multispecies ethnographies, the research analyzes how scientific and institutional narratives about the presence or absence of toxicity in environments and bodies are constructed. Initial results indicate that the problem is not limited to chemical contamination by heavy metals: the tailings, upon hardening, alter the physical structure of the soil, creating so-called "technosols"—unstable hybrids between tailings and original soil. In these contexts, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi emerge as regenerative agents, partially restoring subterranean vitality. Understanding toxicity requires seeing it not only as a technical fact, but as a process that reorganizes ecologies, temporalities, and possible worlds.