February 21, 2025
3:00 pm
-
5:00 pm
Smith Laboratory 4012
Please join us for the annual Graduate Students of Anthropology Talk! This year we are excited to welcome Dr. Hiroko Kumaki, Professor of Anthropology at Oberlin College, whose talk is entitled Reasonably Exposed: Living "Well" after Fukushima.
Abstract:
What does it mean to live well with environmental exposure? This talk explores health and well-being in the ongoing aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan. Drawing on ethnographic research in communities that have returned to former evacuation zones, I examine how people navigate uncertainties of fallout and its political aftermath. As they rebuild their lives in altered ecologies, health is not simply a matter of managing “reasonable” risks, but an ongoing negotiation shaped by historical, political-economic, and socioecological processes. By decentering exposure, this talk raises questions about what it means to live well in a world where we are all already “reasonably” exposed.
The talk will be held in 4012 Smith Laboratory and free pizza and drinks will be provided.
Please refer any questions about the talk to mitchel.13@osu.edu.