Chernobyl as a Historical Caesura: Environment, Politics, and Science
Workshop
05.12.2022 – 06.12.2022
Location: University of Naples Federico II
Conveners: University of Naples Federico II (RCC alumna Elisabetta Plini), Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, and Harvard Ukrainian Institute
Over the last ten years, scholars have devoted increased attention to the study of the role the Chernobyl (Chornobyl in Ukranian) disaster played from a political, social, cultural, and environmental point of view. In her seminal book A Manual for Survival, Kate Brown defined the incident and its aftermath as an unprecedented episode in human history with long-term consequences that are not yet fully evident even today. Starting with this insight, this conference aims to analyze the Chernobyl disaster as a turning point in the late twentieth century not only for political and environmental history, but also for medicine and international cooperation, and for the human perception of nature and science.