Toxic Immanence: Decolonizing Nuclear Legacies and Futures

The nuclear threat from the Cold War era is back, with renewed proliferation, public complacency, and a lack of a long-term repository. Toxic Immanence introduces interdisciplinary perspectives that resist and decolonize the nuclear, highlighting the prevalence and irrationality of slow violence and colonial governance. It proposes a reappraisal of Cold War-era anti-nuclear art and pop culture representations, and decolonizing pedagogies advance the role of education in communicating and understanding the lethality of nuclear complexes. The essays develop a robust critical discourse across fields of nuclear knowledge and integrate the work of the nuclear humanities with environmental justice and Indigenous rights activism.

Format: Hardback
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

More than a decade after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the world is witnessing a peculiar and unsettling resurgence of the nuclear threat that characterized the Cold War era. The renewed danger of nuclear proliferation, public apathy towards weapons stockpiles, and the absence of a single functioning long-term repository after seventy years and thousands of tonnes of nuclear waste expose the industry's remarkable ability to reinvent itself, aided by a persistent tendency to forget. The nuclear, described by Jacques Derrida as "fabulously textual," is here to stay, and resistance is essential.

Toxic Immanence, a groundbreaking collection of essays, introduces contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives that challenge and decolonize the nuclear. Contributors shed light on the prevalence and irrationality of slow violence and colonial governance as fundamental aspects of the contemporary nuclear age. They propose a reevaluation of Cold War-era anti-nuclear art and popular culture representations of nuclear disasters, while decolonizing pedagogies advocate for the enhanced role of education in communicating and comprehending the lethality of nuclear complexes. Collectively, the essays foster a robust critical discourse across various fields of nuclear knowledge, integrating the work of the nuclear humanities with environmental justice and Indigenous rights activism. This interdisciplinary reach extends artistically, with poetry and photography included in the volume offering visions of past and present nuclear legacies.

Conceived as a critical reflection on the potential of nuclear humanities, Toxic Immanence offers intellectual strategies for resisting and abolishing the global nuclear regime. The essays in this volume provide a thought-provoking exploration of the complexities and consequences of nuclear power, offering insights into the ethical, social, and environmental implications of this powerful technology. By challenging the dominant narratives and promoting a more nuanced understanding of the nuclear, Toxic Immanence contributes to the ongoing efforts to build a safer and more sustainable world.

Weight: 976g
Dimension: 250 x 177 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228011361