Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes
© 2019 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, is often described as mankind’s biggest nuclear accident. However, describing Chernobyl as an accident works like a broom to sweep away the lar...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Chicago Press
2021
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136454 |
| _version_ | 1811085436504768512 |
|---|---|
| author | Brown, Kate |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society Brown, Kate |
| author_sort | Brown, Kate |
| collection | MIT |
| description | © 2019 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, is often described as mankind’s biggest nuclear accident. However, describing Chernobyl as an accident works like a broom to sweep away the larger story around it, which ismore important. Exploring the larger Chernobyl Zone with the help of two biologists and a centenarian villager, this article shows how the greater PripyatMarshes, where the 1986 accident took place, was already sullied with elevated levels ofman-made radioactivity before the plant was ever built.Major radioactive releases continue in the region to this day. By enlarging the scale and temporal dimension of this history, this article shows how the Chernobyl accident serves as only an exclamation point in a chain of toxic exposures that remastered the landscape, society, politics, and bodies, not just locally, but globally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:09:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/136454 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:09:33Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1364542023-03-15T20:05:15Z Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes Brown, Kate Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society © 2019 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, is often described as mankind’s biggest nuclear accident. However, describing Chernobyl as an accident works like a broom to sweep away the larger story around it, which ismore important. Exploring the larger Chernobyl Zone with the help of two biologists and a centenarian villager, this article shows how the greater PripyatMarshes, where the 1986 accident took place, was already sullied with elevated levels ofman-made radioactivity before the plant was ever built.Major radioactive releases continue in the region to this day. By enlarging the scale and temporal dimension of this history, this article shows how the Chernobyl accident serves as only an exclamation point in a chain of toxic exposures that remastered the landscape, society, politics, and bodies, not just locally, but globally. 2021-10-27T20:35:27Z 2021-10-27T20:35:27Z 2019 2021-07-12T18:34:59Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136454 en 10.1086/702901 Current Anthropology Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf University of Chicago Press University of Chicago Press |
| spellingShingle | Brown, Kate Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title | Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title_full | Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title_fullStr | Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title_short | Learning to Read the Great Chernobyl Acceleration: Literacy in the More-than-Human Landscapes |
| title_sort | learning to read the great chernobyl acceleration literacy in the more than human landscapes |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136454 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brownkate learningtoreadthegreatchernobylaccelerationliteracyinthemorethanhumanlandscapes |