Nuclear disaster as chronic crisis: Accounts of radiation embodiment by survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster from Belarus born before, in and after 1986

Zhukova, Ekatherina

doi:10.1177/1363459319829190

Cited by 6 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Notable here are Janet Roitman's book, Anti-Crisis (2014), and Henrik Vigh's (2008) contribution in a special issue on 'Crisis and Chronicity: Anthropological Perspectives on Continuous Conflict and Decline' published in Ethnos, Journal of Anthropology, with the latter including a number of articles and plenty of further elaborations and responses (e.g. Berckmoes 2017;Cabot 2018;Rydstrom 2019aRydstrom , 2019bSamimian-Darash and Rotem 2018;Zhukova 2019).…”

Section: From Disciplinarity Towards Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The study of the constitutive links between crisis and security also involves taking account of temporality with some crisis being near chronic (Rydstrom 2019a(Rydstrom , 2019bVigh 2008;Zhukova 2019) and others limited in time. For example, women living under the threat of violence, or who are subjected to abuse, might never be able to escape the shackles of local and global patriarchal power relations (Nguyen and Rydstrom 2018).…”

Section: Crisis and Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, crisis is not to be reified or understood ahistorically. Accordingly, we see crisis as composed of tempo-spatial phases and intensities; a crisis might be a matter of emergency with which it is possible to cope and move forward; it might even lead to renewal (catharsis); or a crisis might settle as a new normalcy, as chronicity (Rydstrom 2019a(Rydstrom , 2019bVigh 2008;Zhukova 2019;Walby 2015). Crisis is uncertain and does not in itself predict a specific form of outcome.…”

Section: Temporality Spatiality and Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

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The case for Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies

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In the world we live in today, the presence and claims of crisis abound – from climate change, financial and political crisis to depression, livelihoods and personal security crisis. There is a challenge to studying crisis due to the ways in which crisis as a notion, condition and experience refers to and operates at various societal levels. Further, different kinds of crisis can overlap and intersect with each other, and act as precursors or consequences of other crises, in what can be thought of as inter-crisis relations or chains of crises. This article makes an enquiry into how to develop more adequate analytical tools for understanding crisis as a multidimensional phenomenon. We ask how crisis can be conceptualised and what the analytical potentials of a distinct crisis perspective might be? In this article we suggest a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to bridge between traditionally separated realms. Our ambition is to present a case for the development of Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies as a field of scholarly enquiry, which allows for new perspectives on data collection and analysis. Using the cases of, first, crisis and security and, second, crisis and climate, conflict and migration, we illustrate how studying and intervening in crises requires non-linear approaches which connect across disciplines to develop more comprehensive, interdisciplinary understandings of societal problems and better solutions. In concluding the paper, we assert that key features of Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies must include (1) temporality, spatiality and scale; (2) multi-layeredness, processuality and contradictions; and (3) gender, intersectionality and social inequalities.

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Section: From Disciplinarity Towards Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Crisis and Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Temporality Spatiality and Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

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The case for Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies

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“…This article is a part of a bigger research project on the mobility and migration of the Chernobyl children from Belarus to Italy since the early 1990s (Zhukova, 2018a, 2018c, 2019a, 2019b, 2020). The funder of the project – the Swedish Institute – has approved the research, which was hosted at the Department of Gender Studies at Lund University.…”

Section: In-depth Interviews With the Grown-up Chernobyl Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Private humanitarian responses to disaster vulnerabilities: The Chernobyl children from Belarus in Italy

Zhukova

2020

Childhood

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This article aims to understand how children’s vulnerabilities function in humanitarian aid programmes. Different types of vulnerabilities that emerged as a result of and in response to the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986) during recuperation of the affected children from Belarus in their Italian host families are examined. It is shown that while the initiation of aid was based on directly disaster-related vulnerabilities (radiation-related vulnerabilities), the outcomes of this aid were influenced by indirectly disaster-related vulnerabilities (social vulnerabilities).

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“…Provided the growing number of compound crises around the world, it is paramount to explore their devastating effects on the lives of ordinary people. As this article will demonstrate, the concept of chronic crisis (Vigh, 2008;Rydstrom, 2019;Zhukova, 2019a) offers a fruitful starting point to such an exploration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Chronic crisis and nuclear disaster humanitarianism: recuperation of Chernobyl and Fukushima children in Italy

Zhukova

2022

Global Discourse

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This article situates Henrik Vigh’s concept of ‘chronic crisis’ in social disaster research and humanitarian studies in order to explore how child survivors experience and address the prolonged consequences of disasters. The rationale for mobilising the concept of chronic crisis is that it opens up possibilities for exploring the dynamics and multidimensionality of disasters and humanitarian responses to them. Using the example of nuclear disasters, the article looks at the enduring humanitarian initiatives of Italian non-governmental organisations in recuperating Chernobyl and Fukushima children in Italy. It focuses on the opportunities, challenges and outcomes of these recuperative programmes, and underscores the non-linearity of survivor agency. The article argues that chronic crisis in nuclear disasters can simultaneously contribute to deterioration and ruination of survivors’ lives, catharsis, and hope. It is further argued that humanitarianism can shape chronic crisis either by exacerbating the alreadyprecarious conditions of human existence (through social discrimination and prejudice), or by alleviating survivor suffering (through social and cultural support). Key messages Chronic crisis is a way to understand humanitarian disasters beyond chronic emergency and protracted crisis. Chronic crisis occupies an ambiguous space between normalcy and emergency. Nuclear disaster humanitarianism is a practice of a simultaneous healing from and reinforcement of chronic crisis. Nuclear disaster humanitarianism can alleviate chronic crisis for some but reinforce it for others.

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Nuclear disaster as chronic crisis: Accounts of radiation embodiment by survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster from Belarus born before, in and after 1986

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

The case for Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies

The case for Interdisciplinary Crisis Studies

Private humanitarian responses to disaster vulnerabilities: The Chernobyl children from Belarus in Italy

Chronic crisis and nuclear disaster humanitarianism: recuperation of Chernobyl and Fukushima children in Italy

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