Suicide Voices: Neoliberal Globalisation and Workplace Trauma

France, during the 2000s, experienced what the international media has described as an 'epidemic' of workplace suicides with unprecedented numbers of workers choosing to kill themselves in work or because of work. With a 70% increase in recorded cases since 2000, France today has the second highest rate of workplace suicides in the world after Japan. French workplace suicides are part of a rising international phenomenon with well-publicised cases in Germany, Spain, Australia, China and Japan. Recent French suicides have been marked by an intensified production of texts through which suicidal individuals have sought to describe for themselves the experiences that have pushed them to take their own lives. The purpose of the fellowship is to examine, through a close reading of testimonial material, what these 'suicide voices' can tell us about the lived conditions of human labour in the historical juncture of neoliberal globalisation.
The fellowship undertakes an analysis of a corpus of testimonies linked to 82 suicide cases within three French companies during the period 2005 to 2015: telecommunications multinational, Orange; car manufacturer, Renault; and French postal services, La Poste. Each of these companies experienced an acute 'suicide wave' amongst its employees at a time of restructuring in response to the external economic imperatives linked to neoliberalism. The research examines an extensive corpus of letters, audio recordings, e-mails, press statements and legal documents written by suicidal individuals and intended for both private and public audiences. Whilst testimonies in a number of well-publicised cases have been published by the media, the full corpus of testimonial material has not yet been subject to academic scrutiny.
The fellowship examines suicide narratives as a unique testimonial mode that can shed light on subjective experiences of economics in the contemporary neoliberal and globalised workplace. The research locates suicide testimonies at a juncture between the everyday and the extreme. Whilst embedded in everyday life, these testimonies also reveal how the quotidian workplace can be transformed into a site of extreme human suffering. Why and how does work or conditions of work push some individuals to take their own lives? What are the social conditions to which these testimonies bear witness? Why is self-killing envisioned as a response to everyday experiences of work?
The fellowship aims to bring an arts and humanities perspective to bear on our understanding of a critical social and public health phenomenon by combining innovative theoretical and methodological insights from literature (testimony studies), social sciences scholarship and public health.
Three principal objectives are sought during the eighteen months of this fellowship. A first objective is to examine suicide narratives as a form of testimony that can transform personal trauma into public meaning and shed light on the conditions of labour in the contemporary historical juncture. The research aims to provide a critical alternative to 'top-down' theories of economics that often overlook experiential and quotidian dimensions of work. A second objective is to examine the historically-specific conditions of workplace suicides and ask why neoliberalism, as compared with earlier economic phases, has exacerbated suicidal tendencies in the workplace. A third objective is to consider the contemporary significance of suicide and ask whether workplace suicides constitute a new and radical mode of protest. To what extent do suicides stem from a failure of collective representation and a re-embodiment by the individual of grievances that might otherwise be given social expression?
From the vantage point of the singular and extreme experiences narrated in suicide testimonies, the fellowship aims to investigate the human and social effects of neoliberal economics in the workplace within the contemporary historical juncture.

The fellowship is of direct importance to specific beneficiaries including public health organisations, trade unions and the general public. Impact activities are intrinsic to the project's rationale and have been integrated from the outset. Having established links with key stakeholder organisations in the UK and France, who will act as my project partners, I am ideally placed to exploit the fellowship's potential for impact.
1. A key innovation of the fellowship is to build collaborative links with leading public health organisations in the UK and France for purposes of disseminating my research to public health audiences (medical professionals, psychologists, occupational therapists, policy advisers) and shaping health policy agendas. I will use my expertise on French workplace suicides to contribute to public policy debates within my two project partner organisations which each work in collaboration with national governments, the European Commission and the WHO in formulating health policy proposals on suicide. Leeds funded a research visit to my project partner, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, on 2 April 2015 where Professor Martin McKee (Co-Director) and I identified UK and European contacts and planned the fellowship's impact activities. These include a week-long research visit to the Observatory in June 2016 and a one-day international workshop hosted by the Observatory in December 2016. These will each provide a critical opportunity to present my research to both academic and non-academic audiences in public health. In France, I will work closely with my second project partner, the National Observatory of Suicide. Having held a workshop at this organisation in November 2014, I have been invited to return in October 2016 to present my research to an audience of French public health specialists. The fellowship will allow me to consolidate my collaboration with these two international organisations through a series of structured meetings and workshops.
2. Recent suicides have important implications for workplace policies at international level and I will build collaboration with trade union organisations in France and the UK which are likely to benefit directly from the research. A key aim is to raise awareness of workplace suicides and to help influence trade union strategies that are intended to inform, support and protect employees in relation to workplace risks. Having worked with the French trade union SUD at France Télécom (Waters 2014b), I will build collaboration with trade unions in two other French companies, Renault and La Poste, with whom I have already developed contact. In the UK, I am working in collaboration with Rory O'Neill, editor of the award-winning trade union magazine, Hazards and I have been invited to write an article for this magazine and to deliver a paper at the Hazards annual conference (June 2017), which is a major annual forum for trade unionists in the UK. This will allow me to reach a diverse audience of UK trade unionists.
3. The rise of workplace suicides is a critical issue for public health and I intend to disseminate the findings of my research to as wide a public audience as possible. My feature article in the American political magazine Jacobin reached a broad international audience which I was able to monitor through its extensive dissemination on social media (Facebook and Twitter). I plan further publications through general media outlets (The Guardian, Yorkshire Evening Post). The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies has strong links with BBC radio and the regional press through the Legacies of War and Transnational Holocaust Memories projects and I will take full advantage of these links in order to contribute to both radio segments and press articles. I will work closely with Arts Engaged at Leeds and Gareth Dent, the university's media adviser in developing the fellowship's impact activities.