Pollution Comes Home and Gets Personal

Abstract This chapter shifts the focus to embodied experiences and examines Cape Cod residents' discovery of and response to pollution exposures inside their homes and bodies. Science—not just the direct experience of environmental problems—shapes participants' embodied health experiences. Until recently, most work on environmental pollution has focused on measuring chemicals in air, water, and soil. However, advances in exposure assessment science have led to the analysis of more intimate spaces in people's homes and body tissues. The chapter highlights how science influences people's discovery and understanding of environmental health threats. It also suggests future opportunities for social scientists to expand their examination of contested illnesses by characterizing how exposure experiences vary and are mediated by environmental science.