The Meanings of a Disaster

Download or read book The Meanings of a Disaster written by Karena Kalmbach and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was an event of obviously transnational significance—not only in the airborne particulates it deposited across the Northern hemisphere, but in the political and social repercussions it set off well beyond the Soviet bloc. Focusing on the cases of Great Britain and France, this innovative study explores the discourses and narratives that arose in the wake of the incident among both state and nonstate actors. It gives a thorough account of the stereotypes, framings, and “othering” strategies that shaped Western European nations’ responses to the disaster, and of their efforts to come to terms with its long-term consequences up to the present day.