Exploring the Hidden Labor of Living with ME/CFS in a New Book

In her recent volume Sick Work, Duke University anthropologist Emily Lim Rogers examines how chronic fatigue syndrome reshapes the notion of work, turning survival into a form of invisible labor. She recounts the condition’s emergence in the 1980s around Lake Tahoe and its evolution into the medically recognized ME/CFS. Rogers contends that society treats fatigue as a personal failing rather than a systemic issue, linking this attitude to capitalist pressures and the need for employment-based health coverage.

The book describes a feedback loop where patients must work to afford care yet lack the capacity to be productive. Rogers also addresses how the disease is racialized, noting that Black patients like Robin often receive advice to simply “keep pushing,” reinforcing doubts about their legitimacy. Overall, the conversation underscores the political and economic forces that marginalize chronically ill individuals.