On February 8th at 12PM, Dr. Kate Brown (Professor of Science, Technology and Society, MIT) will provide a public lecture on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion in 1986, often described as “mankind’s biggest nuclear accident”. Brown argues that the nuclear accident represents only an exclamation point in a chain of toxic exposures that remastered the landscape, society, politics and bodies locally and globally. Her research illustrates how describing Chernobyl as an ‘accident’ sweeps away the larger story around it, which is more important. This lecture will take place in HSSB 6020.

On February 7th at 4PM, the Blum Center for Global Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development is pleased to also host a Pop Up Discussion with the author to discuss the politics of surviving catastrophe and the related human costs, in more depth. Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP with Joanne Nowak, Blum Center Academic Coordinator, (joanne.nowak@ucsb.edu) by Wednesday, February 6th.

Dr. Kate Brown is Professor of Science, Technology and Society at MIT. She is the author of several prize-winning histories, including “Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities”, as well as the forthcoming book, “Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future”.

These events are co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Energy Justice in Global Perspective, the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies Environmental Justice/Climate Justice Hub, and the Blum Center for Global Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development.