End : 19 March 2026 à 17:00
LATTS is pleased to invite you to the next session of its general seminar, which will take place on Thursday, 19 March 2026, at 2 p.m. The session will focus on the book Radioactive Governance: The Politics of Revitalisation in Post-Fukushima Japan, published by New York University Press in 2026.
Maxime Polleri will present his book, followed by a discussion led by Christine Fassert, before opening the floor to questions from the audience.
Seminar location
This session will take place in room B021/B023 (Bienvenüe Building) and will be broadcast via videoconference. Zoom
link: https://univ-eiffel.zoom.us/j/81175761278
Meeting ID: 811 7576 1278
Password: LATTS2026
The Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 was the worst industrial accident Japan has ever experienced. This catastrophe contaminated large parts of the country, caused mass evacuations, led to economic turmoil and fuelled controversy over the health effects of radiation. Yet, unlike other nuclear tragedies, a discourse of victimisation has failed to gain political traction in the conceptualisation of this disaster, either in Japan or around the world. An official policy of revitalisation has taken precedence over narratives of trauma, which is particularly striking in Japan, whose history is inextricably linked to the atomic bombings. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork across Japan, this presentation examines how different groups have clashed and collaborated in managing such controversial issues as radiological risks and post-disaster reconstruction. Offering a rich theorisation of how governments and citizens shape narratives about catastrophic events, the presentation examines how radioactive governance has shifted from the nuclear secrecy that characterised the Cold War era to joint management of the consequences of disasters by international organisations and citizens, transforming nuclear precariousness into rhetoric of revitalisation.
Maxime Polleri is a technoscience anthropologist. He studies the governance of disasters, waste and misinformation, focusing primarily on nuclear issues.
Book: Radioactive Governance. The Politics of Revitalisation in Post-Fukushima Japan
