Subject, history, relationality: life writing by Italian-Australian Women in the late Twentieth Century
On Air
The Atomic Bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the beginning of the nuclear age and launched a global era of weapons testing and modernization. This lecture looks beyond Hiroshima to examine how this nuclear development affected people around the world.
During the Cold War, nuclear powers conducted more than 2,000 tests. Research by Professor Emeritus Robert Jacobs of Hiroshima City University shows that many people were exposed to radiation from nuclear tests, manufacturing accidents, and nuclear waste. These people, known as "Global Hibakusha," are the result of the continued modernization of nuclear arsenals by nuclear-armed states.
Less than a year after the first wartime use of atomic bombs, the United States began nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. In March 1954 the U.S. detonated its largest hydrogen bomb, Bravo detonation, exposing islanders, fishers, and the crew of the Lucky Dragon to radiation and drawing global media scrutiny.
The lecture also highlights people living downwind of nuclear test sites, including American farmer Tom Bailie. Sarah Fox, a Seattle-based historian who studies downwinders, and Hiromitsu Toyosaki, a photojournalist known for his extensive work on Global Hibakusha, also share their perspectives. The lecture invites you to reflect on the legacy of nuclear development and our responsibilities to future generations.
