This exploratory presentation shows a snapshot of rubber tapping at Firestone Rubber Company in Liberia. This project is part of the course Ecologies of Resistance, Transformation and Alternative Development at Clark University.
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Ecologies of Resistance, Transformative Change and Alternative Development: The Case of Rubber Tapping in Liberia
1. Ecologies
of
Resistance,
Transforma3ve
Change
and
Alterna3ve
Development:
Rubber
Tapping-‐the
Case
of
Firestone
in
Liberia
Jenkins
Macedo
Spring
2012
9. Brief History of Firestone In Liberia
² 1926 GoL and Firestone signed a 99-year contract for $5M for 1
million acres (405,000 hectares) for rubber plantation.
² 4% of the country’s territory with 10% of its arable land.
² 24o square miles
² 7, 000 employees (rubber tappers)
² 8,000 undocumented workers
² Latex produced assist the Allies to defeat the Axis Powers during
WWII.
10. Socio-economic & Health Implications
² Monthly latex production US/$2,296.80 in Liberia ($3,915.00 US)
² Paid $125.00
² Workers live in dilapidated housing built in the 1930s.
² Chemicals Application include both fungicide, herbicide and
stimulants
² Tappers and their families are expose to carcinogenic substances,
e.g. Asbestos and chemicals used on the plantation.
² Lack of cleaning drinking water
² Poor sanitary conditions
11. Illegal Rubber Tapping
² Illegal rubber tapping on “no
man’s land” a phrase common
among ex-combatant rubber
tappers.
² Reinforces insecurity