‘Safe food’ governance in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster

PMC SEMINAR: Enacting ‘safe food’ through ruling discourse in the aftermath of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster

Presented by doctoral candidate Karly Burch

With the onset of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO’s) nuclear disaster in March 2011, imperceptible radionuclides re-emerged as objects of concern for many people living throughout the archipelago of Japan and immediately challenged the governance of “food safety” in Japan and around the world. In the days following the onset of the nuclear disaster, the Japanese government and mainstream media outlets began playing an important role in attempting to put “consumers” at ease about ingesting TEPCO’s radionuclides. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Kansai region of Japan in 2016, this seminar explores how ruling discourses deployed by the Japanese government and mainstream media outlets appear in the everyday lives and lexicons of people living over 600km from the site of the nuclear disaster, providing a language for “correctly” discussing the possible presence of TEPCO’s radionuclides in the food they and their family members ingest.

Karly Burch, MSc
BA, University of California, Santa Barbara, United States, 2006
MSc, Norwegian University of Life Sciences
and Engineering School of Agriculture, Alimentation, Rural Development and Environment (ISARA-Lyon), 2012
PhD candidate at the University of Otago’s Te Whare Wānanga Otāgo
Centre for Sustainability・Kā Rakahau o Te Ao Tūroa
and Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work・ Te Tari Āhua ā-iwi

When: Tuesday, March 13, 4.30pm-6pm
Where: WG907, Sir Paul Reeves communication precinct, AUT City Campus
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Contact for more information:
PMC Postdoctoral Researcher Dr Sylvia Frain
 

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>