The Politics of Invisibility: Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl

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Olga Kuchinskaya

The Politics of Invisibility

Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl

Olga Kuchinskaya

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English

MIT Press
15 August 2023

Ethical issues: scientific & technological developments; Environmentalist thought & ideology

Series: Infrastructures

Lessons from the massive Chernobyl nuclear accident about how we deal with modern hazards that are largely imperceptible.

Lessons from the massive Chernobyl nuclear accident about how we deal with modern hazards that are largely imperceptible.

Before Fukushima, the most notorious large-scale nuclear accident the world had seen was Chernobyl in 1986. The fallout from Chernobyl covered vast areas in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Europe. Belarus, at the time a Soviet republic, suffered heavily- nearly a quarter of its territory was covered with long-lasting radionuclides. Yet the damage from the massive fallout was largely imperceptible; contaminated communities looked exactly like noncontaminated ones. It could be known only through constructed representations of it. In The Politics of Invisibility, Olga Kuchinskaya explores how we know what we know about Chernobyl, describing how the consequences of a nuclear accident were made invisible. Her analysis sheds valuable light on how we deal with other modern hazards-toxins or global warming-that are largely imperceptible to the human senses.

Kuchinskaya describes the production of invisibility of Chernobyl's consequences in Belarus-practices that limit public attention to radiation and make its health effects impossible to observe. Just as mitigating radiological contamination requires infrastructural solutions, she argues, the production and propagation of invisibility also involves infrastructural efforts, from redefining the scope and nature of the accident's consequences to reshaping research and protection practices.

Kuchinskaya finds vast fluctuations in recognition, tracing varyingly successful efforts to conceal or reveal Chernobyl's consequences at different levels-among affected populations, scientists, government, media, and international organizations. The production of invisibility, she argues, is a function of power relations.

By: Olga Kuchinskaya
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780262548861
ISBN 10: 0262548860
Series: Infrastructures
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 15 August 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1 Articulating the Signs of Danger 19 2 The Work of Living with It 39 3 Waves of Chernobyl Invisibility 65 4 Twice Invisible 95 5 No Clear Evidence 115 6 Setting the Limits of Knowledge 137 Conclusion 159 Appendix: Data and Methodology 165 Notes 175 References 207 Index 225

Olga Kuchinskaya is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh.