EASTS RCA project

About EASTS Journal

Sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (EASTS) aims to bring together East Asian and Western scholars from the fields of science, technology, and society (STS). Examining issues such as human embryonic stem-cell research, family and reproductive technologies, and the globalization of Chinese medicine, the journal publishes research on how society and culture in East Asia interact with science, technology, and medicine. EASTS serves as a platform to facilitate the exchange of growing efforts of STS networks in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe, further fostering an internationally open and inclusive community. The journal is composed of research articles, research notes, critical reviews, and book reviews.

Read more about EASTS journal at:

http://www.4sonline.org/prizes/infrastructure

https://read.dukeupress.edu/easts/issue

RCA documentaryㄧㄧ

a project EASTS journal editors are working on：

Delayed Justice：the RCA Lawsuit

Here presents a trailer of a documentary on the lawsuit against the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) beginning in the 1990s. In the past three 4S annual meetings, EASTS has made several presentations on this case to demonstrate STS both in an academic field and towards the means of social transformation. Now, through the documentary EASTS congratulates the production team for their efforts and is happy to present this trailer here.

It started out as individual workers’ experiencing illnesses, particularly women’s reproductive health problems. Then it became an issue for social movement campaigns, a collective phenomenon of occupational disease confirmed through hotly contested scientific research findings despite most records of the issue having been destroyed. Finally, in a groundbreaking decision in 2015, the court found RCA - one of the largest transnational high-tech companies of the 20th century - liable for workplace chemical exposure of its former employees during its operation in Taiwan between 1969 and 1992, which has caused cancers and other serious health issues. The two decade-long RCA struggle has involved thousands of victims and volunteers, including many STSers and scientists from various disciplines, and culminated into the largest and most science-intensive lawsuit in the judicial history of Taiwan. During the long trial, many unexpected evidences were discovered, scrutinized, and fiercely debated over in court by the parties. This first episode of an eight-part series of an atypical science-education program tells the story of how people came to understand uncertainties in science, and thus understand how scientific knowledge can be useful for a society when facing pressing matters, such as those in the RCA lawsuit.