Résumé
This article deals with polluted soils: the presence, dispersion and intrusion of mining residues from past extractive practices to the villages, houses and bodies of the inhabitants of the Sierra Minera de Cartagena (Spain). Inspired by Actor-Network Theory, feminist science studies and neomaterialism, it defends the idea that contamination was facilitated by a way of thinking and managing these residues, ignorant of their "vitality". At the same time, it retraces the trajectory of the whistle-blower scientist Jose Matias Penas Castejon, arguing that his attachments and original scientific practice helped him to understand phenomena previously dealt with in a restrictively technical and "above-ground" manner. We show that he has managed, despite the difficulties, to produce situated knowledge on pollution, attentive to the toxic fate of the residues, but also to the populations. We ask ourselves the question of how to encourage more precautionary scientific practices for local residents exposed to the risks of contamination.