The Nuclear Peninsula
Cambridge University Press, 4/1/1993
EAN 9780521413213, ISBN10: 0521413214
Hardcover, 152 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
A quiet French country district is the site of a nuclear waste-processing plant. Francoise Zonabend describes the ways in which those working in the plant, and living nearby, come to terms with the risks in their daily lives. She provides a superb sociology of the nuclear work-place, with its divisions and hierarchies, and explains the often unexpected responses of the workers to the fear of radiation and contamination. The work is described euphemistically in terms of women's tasks - cleaning, cooking, preparing a soup - but the male workers subvert this language to create a more satisfying self-image. They divide workers into the cautious ('rentiers') and the bold ('kamikazes') who relish danger. By analysing work practices and the language of the work-place, the author shows how workers and locals can recognise the possibility of nuclear catastrophe while, at the same time, denying that it could ever happen to them. This is a major contribution to the anthropology of modern life.
List of illustrations
Preface
Once there was a landscape …
List of abbreviations
Introduction
talking nuclear
Part I. Nuclear Landscapes
1. La Hague or the nuclear zone
2. The nuclear setting
3. The politics of nuclear power
Part II. The Nuclear People
4. The nuclear site
an inventory of fixtures
5. Learning the nuclear ropes
6. The nuclear everyday
Conclusion
the ultimate subject - man
Notes
Index.