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How might your role in the family or household influence your interaction with the nuclear world? Feminists have drawn attention to how these roles are often stratified by gender, linked to gender segregation and inequality in the workplace and sustained by powerful cultural norms around motherhood. The writing activities that follow aim to help you analyse critically how women’s association with homemaking and mothering shapes their entry into nuclear industries or anti-nuclear activism.
There are four writing tasks associated with this activity. The first asks you to unpack the role of gender in women’s anti-government activism, and reactions to it, in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. The second task is a critical analysis of ‘maternalist’ motivations at Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in the UK. The third task asks for short answers in response to questions about the variety of roles women played at Oak Ridge, as part of the Manhattan Project. Finally, you will assess how ideas and imagery have been mobilised by the organisation ‘Mothers for Nuclear’.
Content Attributes
| Link to Resource | |
| Video Url | |
| Topic / Subject Matter | Disarmament, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons |
| Skillset | Critical Thinking |
| Lens / Approach / Method | Feminism, Gender, Race |
| Download Category | Educational |
| Content Tag | antinuclear activism, Gender Politics, maternalism, nuclear weapons production |
| Activity Type | Online module |
| Audiences | College |
| Minimum Number of Participants | |
| Maximum Number of Participants | |
| Group or Individual | Groups, Individuals |
| Recommended group size | |
| Number of Leaders | |
| Total Prep Time | |
| Total activity time | |
| Divisible | Yes |
| Divisible Explanation | This activity consists of four tasks: 'Radiation Brain Moms'; 'Greenham Women'; Women of Oak Ridge', 'Mothers for Nuclear', which could be separated into different class sessions if required. The tasks do not necessarily have to be completed in order: the instructor could choose to set one or two of the tasks or set them in a different order. The one exception is that the Greenham Women activity should be undertaken before the Mothers for Nuclear activity, in order that students have some grasp of maternalism before engaging with the latter case study. Instructors may also choose to vary the length and type of written assignment for each task. |
| Recommended Reading |
Core readings (*especially relevant to these activities): Hirshberg, Lauren (2022) ‘Introduction’, especially pp.1-35, in Suburban Empire: Cold War Militarization in the US Pacific, University of California Press. Available at: https://content.ucpress.edu/title/9780520289161/9780520289161_intro.pdf Kimura, Aya Hirata (2016) ‘“Moms with Radiation Brain”: Gendered Food Policing in the Name of Science’, Chapter 1 in Radiation Brain Moms and Citizen Scientists: The Gender Politics of Food Contamination after Fukushima, Duke University Press. Ebook chapter available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11317hs.7* Northcutt, Susan Stoudinger (1999) ‘Women and the Bomb: Domestication of the Atomic Bomb in the United States’, International Social Science Review 74 (3-4): 129-139. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41887009 Full details of web resources for these activities: Atomic Heritage Foundation (1965) ‘Patricia Hansard’s Interview’, Voices of the Manhattan Project. Available at: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/patricia-hansards-interview/ Atomic Heritage Foundation (2013a) ‘Carolyn Stelzman’s Interview’, Voices of the Manhattan Project. Available at: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/carolyn-stelzmans-interview/ Atomic Heritage Foundation (2013b) ‘Kattie Strickland’s Interview’, Voices of the Manhattan Project. Available at: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/kattie-stricklands-interview/ Atomic Heritage Foundation (2018a) ‘Valeria Steele Roberson’s Interview’, Voices of the Manhattan Project. Available at: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/valeria-steele-robersons-interview/ Atomic Heritage Foundation (2018b) ‘Ruth Huddlestone’s Interview’, Voices of the Manhattan Project. Available at: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/voices/oral-histories/ruth-huddlestons-interview/ Baker, David A. (2016) ‘Mothers for Nuclear: New group tries to keep Diablo Canyon open’, SFGate, May 3. Available at: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Mothers-for-Nuclear-New-group-tries-to-keep-7390914.php Goddard, Joanna (2013) ‘What it’s Like to Parent in Japan’, Cup of Jo, July 22. Available at: https://cupofjo.com/2013/07/22/10-surprising-things-about-parenting-in-japan/ ‘Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, 1981-2000’. Available at: http://www.greenhamwpc.org.uk/ Greenham Women Everywhere (no date) ‘Oral Testimonies’. Available at: https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/oral-testimonies-2/. Greenham Women Everywhere (2021) ‘Lottie & Margi Blunden’. Available at: https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/lottie-margi-blunden/ Greenham Women Everywhere (2022) ‘Sheila Richards’. Available at: https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/sheila-richards/ Henderson, Nancy (2020) ‘Girl Power, Circa 1940: Building The Bomb (and Not Knowing It) in East Tennessee’, Blue Ridge Country. Available at: https://blueridgecountry.com/newsstand/magazine/calutron-girls-atomic-bomb/ Interac (2017) ‘Being a Mom in Japan: Life, Work and Childcare’, October 17. Available at: https://interacnetwork.com/being-a-mom-in-japan/ Imperial War Museum (no date) ‘The Women Who Took On The British Government's Nuclear Programme’. Available at https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-women-who-took-on-the-british-governments-nuclear-programme International Museum of Women (no date) ‘Taking up Space at Greenham’,. Available at: https://exhibitions.globalfundforwomen.org/exhibitions/women-power-and-politics/biology/taking-up-space Japanese Government (2017) ‘Fukushima Foods: Safe and Delicious’, We are Tomodachi, Autumn. Available at: https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2017/autumn2017/fukushima_food.html Jolly, Margaretta (no date) ‘Writing the Web: Letters from the Women’s Peace Movement’, The Feminist Seventies. Available at: http://www.feministseventies.net/Greenham.html Kerrow, Kate (2021) ‘Episode 2: Motherhood’, Greenham Uncommon Podcast, November. Available at https://greenhamwomeneverywhere.co.uk/greenham-uncommon-podcast-episode-2-motherhood/ and also on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6RfReI3heZAr6vO8YcmqXr?si=IotkcN4WQMGSouPMM-vpmg&nd=1 Mayday Rooms (no date) ‘Greenham Common Women’s Peace Movement’. Available at: https://maydayrooms.org/archive_item/greenham-common-womens-peace-movement/ Mothers for Nuclear (no date) ‘Our Stories’. Available at: https://www.mothersfornuclear.org/our-stories National Park Service (no date) ‘The Calutron Girls’. Available at: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-calutron-girls.htm Nuclear Matters (no date) ‘As a Matter of Fact: Mothers for Nuclear’. Available at: https://www.nuclearmatters.com/aamof_mothers4nuclear Office of Nuclear Energy (2018) ‘Nuclear Energy: It's Mother Approved’, May 10. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nuclear-energy-its-mother-approved Scroope, Chara (2021) ‘Japanese Culture - Family’, Cultural Atlas. Available at https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/japanese-culture/japanese-culture-family Semuels, Alana (2017) ‘Japan is No Place for Single Mothers’, The Atlantic, September 7. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/09/japan-is-no-place-for-single-mothers/538743/ West, Alana (2020) ‘Feminist Interventions in Nuclear Energy Debates’, Lady Science. Available at: https://www.ladyscience.com/features/feminist-interventions-in-nuclear-energy-debates Selected further readings, to follow-up on these activities: Brown, Kate (2013) ‘Work and the Women Left Holding Plutonium’, Chapter 6 in Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters, Oxford University Press. Culley, Marci R., and Holly L. Angelique (2003) ‘Women’s Gendered Experiences as Long-Term Three Mile Island Activists’, Gender and Society 17 (3): 445–461. Hales, Peter Bacon (1997) ‘Workers’ and ‘Others’, Chapters 6 and 7 in Atomic Spaces: Living on the Manhattan Project, University of Illinois Press. Odawara, Rin (2020) ‘Anti-Nuclear Movement and “Motherhood” in Post-War Japan’: A Feminist Perspective, DEP: Deportate, Esuli, Profughe 41-42: 54-63. Available at: https://www.unive.it/pag/fileadmin/user_upload/dipartimenti/DSLCC/documenti/DEP/numeri/n41-42/08_Odawara.pdf Roseneil, Sasha (2000) Common Women, Uncommon Practices: The Queer Feminisms of Greenham, Cassell. |
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