Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Kuchinskaya, Olga, 1975- author.

Title The politics of invisibility : public knowledge about radiation health effects after Chernobyl / Olga Kuchinskaya
Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2014]
©2014

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xii, 249 pages)
Series Infrastructures series
Infrastructures series.
Contents Introduction -- Articulating the signs of danger -- The work of living with it -- Waves of Chernobyl invisibility -- Twice invisible -- No clear evidence -- Setting the limits of knowledge -- Conclusion -- Appendix : data and methodology
Summary 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. - Publisher
Olga Kuchinskaya explores how we know what we know about Chernobyl, describing how the consequences of a nuclear accident were made invisible. The analysis sheds valuable light on how we deal with other modern hazards - toxins or global warming - that are largely imperceptible to the human senses. The book 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. The production of invisibility, the book argues, is a function of power relations
Analysis SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY/General
ENVIRONMENT/General
SOCIAL SCIENCES/Political Science/Public Policy & Law
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986 -- Health aspects
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986 -- Social aspects
Communication in medicine -- Belarus
Communication in medicine -- Europe, Eastern
Health risk assessment -- Government policy -- Belarus
Health risk assessment -- Government policy -- Europe, Eastern
Radiation victims -- Belarus -- Attitudes
Radiation victims -- Europe, Eastern -- Attitudes
Health surveys -- Belarus
Health surveys -- Europe, Eastern
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, Chornobylʹ, Ukraine, 1986.
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Infrastructure.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
SCIENCE -- Philosophy & Social Aspects.
Communication in medicine
Health risk assessment -- Government policy
Health surveys
Social aspects
Ukraine
Belarus
Eastern Europe
Ukraine -- Chornobylʹ
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780262325417
0262325411