2023 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Radioactive Decontamination in Fukushima and the Fabric of Collective Memory
| Project/Area Number |
22KF0044
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
ボレー セバスチャン 東北大学, 災害科学国際研究所, 准教授 (70751676)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
GAULENE MATHIEU 東北大学, 災害科学国際研究所, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2023-03-08 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Radiation / Collective memory / Fukushima accident / Disaster science / Semiotics / Cultural anthropology / Iitate Village / Tohoku Earthquake |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This research examined the construction of collective memory of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and the decontamination process. The researcher collected primary data from the village of Iitate and other neighbouring areas and extensively documented the decontamination process. This study suggests that spatial and symbolic distance (e.g. thinking that decontamination was effective and living in Iitate is safe) allows individuals to end the disaster and move beyond the trauma by transforming it into a memory. In contrast, individuals such distance (e.g. thinking the level of radioactivity is unsafe but still living there) may repetitively experience the trauma and the impossibility of forming a memory. For these individuals, the Fukushima nuclear accident is still ongoing.
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