Atomic Collective: Radioactive Life in Kazakhstan

About the Book

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse, Kazakhstan inherited the remnants of one of the world's most contaminated landscapes: the Semipalatinsk Test Site, known locally as the Polygon. Resigned to dispossession, residents have chosen to remain on the abandoned nuclear test site, despite the isolation and the radioactive environment, rather than face marginalization or the rigors of a neoliberal world. Atomic Collective examines this nuclear legacy through a decade-long ethnographic examination of the village of Koian, situated on the border of the test site. Facing residual radiation all around them and isolation, Koianers persist, reshaping their pastoral existence among the ruins and scientific debates surrounding genetic damage.

Drawing on first-hand accounts and archival research, this book explores the resilience and everyday survival strategies of a community left behind to fend for itself in the shadow of nuclear testing. It offers a unique perspective on life in a nuclear zone and poses fundamental questions about human resilience and the impact of historical events on a collective identity. Atomic Collective sheds light on a community overlooked in the larger Cold War histories of atomic testing.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: "Discovering" Koian

1. "The Forbidden Zone": Atomic Bombs and the Good Life
Introduction
Before the Bombs
Atomic Testing and the Virgin Lands Project
After the Bombs
Atomic Reflections
Conclusion

2. "Clean Air Is Our Death": Debates About Genetic Mutation
Introduction
The Debate About Low-Dose Radiation
Radiophobia as a Discursive Strategy
Containing the Damage
The Koianer Response
Conclusion

3. "Sami Po Sebe": Economy on the Periphery
Introduction
Envisioning the Collective
Trip to the Bazar
The Return of Tradition
Conclusion

4. "They Think We are Stupid": Reinventing Kazakh Tradition
Introduction
A People Apart
Experimental Rabbits
False Compliance
A System in Shambles
Conclusion
Conclusion: The Atomic Present

About the Author :

Madgalena E. Stawkowski is a McCausland Faculty Fellow and an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the University of South Carolina.

Review :
“Magdalena E. Stawkowski’s book is an absorbing and nuanced ethnography of the struggles of everyday life in a post-nuclear village in Kazakhstan. Atomic Collective is based on long-term fieldwork in the village of Koian and captures unexpected contradictions showing that while the area is destitute and polluted by nuclear waste, the villagers have coined a survivalist attitude believing that their bodies have adapted to radiation. Stawkowski unravels the complex reasoning behind this life ethos. An engrossing story.” “Atomic Collective is a significant contribution to our understanding of social life and resilience in the post-nuclear age, post-Soviet society, and rural regions of Kazakhstan. It is an elegantly written, compelling account that effectively utilizes Stawkowski’s rich ethnographic and archival research. Highly readable and free from jargon, Stawkowski conveys her fieldwork experiences without centering the story on herself. As she shares her concerns about radiation poisoning, her shock at the lack of basic amenities, and her appreciation for the community’s strengths, we gain insight into the Koianers’ worldviews. Atomic Collective portrays how ethnographic fieldwork, built on trust, uncovers often neglected perspectives of marginalized communities.” “With a first-person narrative voice, Atomic Collective presents data, details, and insights gathered over a decade. Magdalena E. Stawkowski aims not only to detail the conditions and constraints faced by individuals but also to illuminate the ways that animate the varied meanings of, and constraints in, living a life within the atomic collective of Kazakh communities. This literary work is clearly communicated through well-crafted, richly detailed stories. The book is supported by an expansive array of citations, reflecting a broad reading and a strong command of nuclear histories and related scientific research fields.” “What makes a place ‘unlivable’ and who decides? This question lies at the heart of Magdalena E. Stawkowski’s bold and remarkable book about the nuclear afterlives of a Kazakh community that resolutely refuses to be victimized or to disappear. From Cold War intrigue, secret scientific experiments, and local theories of genetic adaptation to radiation exposure, to the heroically mundane act of traversing the toxic and windswept Polygon nuclear testing zone, Atomic Collective is ethnography at its finest: it deftly uncovers the hidden histories and haunting legacies of nuclearism, sensitively rendered through richly textured social worlds.”