This book is about nuclear legacies in Russia and Central Asia, focusing on
selected sites of the Soviet atomic program, many of which have remained
understudied. Nuclear operations, for energy or military purposes, demanded
a vast infrastructure of production and supply chains that have transformed
entire regions. In following the material traces of the atomic programs, contributors pay particular attention to memory practices and memorialization
concerning nuclear legacies.
Tracing the Atom foregrounds historical and contemporary engagements
with nuclear politics: how have institutions and governments responded to
the legacies of the atomic era? How do communities and artists articulate
concerns over radioactive matters? What was the role of radiation expertise
in a broader Soviet and international context of the Cold War? Examining
nuclear legacies together with past atomic futures and post-Soviet memorialization and nuclear heritage shines light on how modes of knowing intersect
with livelihoods, compensation policies, and historiography.
Bringing together a range of disciplines – history, science and technology
studies, social anthropology, literary studies, and art history – this volume
offers insights that broaden our understanding of twentieth-century atomic
programs and their long aftermaths.
Susanne Bauer is a professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at
University of Oslo, Norway. Her research interests are in sociomaterial studies of technoscience and anthropogenic ecologies. She has widely published
on life sciences in society, epidemiological data labor, biomedical infrastructuring, environmental health regulation, and post-Soviet nuclear aftermaths.
Tanja Penter is a professor of Eastern European history at Heidelberg University, Germany. She has extensively published on twentieth-century Soviet
and post-Soviet history. She is a member of the German-Russian and the
German-Ukrainian Commission of Historians and of the scientific advisory
board of the German Historical Institute in Moscow.
Tracing the Atom
selected sites of the Soviet atomic program, many of which have remained
understudied. Nuclear operations, for energy or military purposes, demanded
a vast infrastructure of production and supply chains that have transformed
entire regions. In following the material traces of the atomic programs, contributors pay particular attention to memory practices and memorialization
concerning nuclear legacies.
Tracing the Atom foregrounds historical and contemporary engagements
with nuclear politics: how have institutions and governments responded to
the legacies of the atomic era? How do communities and artists articulate
concerns over radioactive matters? What was the role of radiation expertise
in a broader Soviet and international context of the Cold War? Examining
nuclear legacies together with past atomic futures and post-Soviet memorialization and nuclear heritage shines light on how modes of knowing intersect
with livelihoods, compensation policies, and historiography.
Bringing together a range of disciplines – history, science and technology
studies, social anthropology, literary studies, and art history – this volume
offers insights that broaden our understanding of twentieth-century atomic
programs and their long aftermaths.
Susanne Bauer is a professor of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at
University of Oslo, Norway. Her research interests are in sociomaterial studies of technoscience and anthropogenic ecologies. She has widely published
on life sciences in society, epidemiological data labor, biomedical infrastructuring, environmental health regulation, and post-Soviet nuclear aftermaths.
Tanja Penter is a professor of Eastern European history at Heidelberg University, Germany. She has extensively published on twentieth-century Soviet
and post-Soviet history. She is a member of the German-Russian and the
German-Ukrainian Commission of Historians and of the scientific advisory
board of the German Historical Institute in Moscow.
Tracing the Atom