{"product_id":"the-politics-of-invisibility-isbn-9780262548861","title":"The Politics of Invisibility","description":"\u003cb\u003eLessons from the massive Chernobyl nuclear accident about how we deal with modern hazards that are largely imperceptible.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore Fukushima, the most notorious large-scale nuclear accident the world had seen was Chernobyl in 1986. The fallout from Chernobyl covered vast areas in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Europe. Belarus, at the time a Soviet republic, suffered heavily: nearly a quarter of its territory was covered with long-lasting radionuclides. Yet the damage from the massive fallout was largely imperceptible; contaminated communities looked exactly like noncontaminated ones. It could be known only through constructed representations of it. In \u003ci\u003eThe Politics of Invisibility\u003c\/i\u003e, Olga Kuchinskaya explores how we know what we know about Chernobyl, describing how the consequences of a nuclear accident were made invisible. Her analysis sheds valuable light on how we deal with other modern hazards—toxins or global warming—that are largely imperceptible to the human senses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKuchinskaya describes the production of invisibility of Chernobyl's consequences in Belarus—practices that limit public attention to radiation and make its health effects impossible to observe. Just as mitigating radiological contamination requires infrastructural solutions, she argues, the production and propagation of invisibility also involves infrastructural efforts, from redefining the scope and nature of the accident's consequences to reshaping research and protection practices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKuchinskaya finds vast fluctuations in recognition, tracing varyingly successful efforts to conceal or reveal Chernobyl's consequences at different levels—among affected populations, scientists, government, media, and international organizations. The production of invisibility, she argues, is a function of power relations.Preface vii\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments xi\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction 1\u003cbr\u003e1 Articulating the Signs of Danger 19\u003cbr\u003e2 The Work of Living with It 39\u003cbr\u003e3 Waves of Chernobyl Invisibility 65\u003cbr\u003e4 Twice Invisible 95\u003cbr\u003e5 No Clear Evidence 115\u003cbr\u003e6 Setting the Limits of Knowledge 137\u003cbr\u003eConclusion 159\u003cbr\u003eAppendix: Data and Methodology 165\u003cbr\u003eNotes 175\u003cbr\u003eReferences 207\u003cbr\u003eIndex 225Olga Kuchinskaya is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303271387365,"sku":"NP9780262548861","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262548861.jpg?v=1767740998","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-politics-of-invisibility-isbn-9780262548861","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}