Nuclear Legacies

Communication, Controversy, and the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex

Contributions by Jennifer Duffield Hamilton, Jason N. Krupar, Laura A. McNamara, Eric L. Morgan, Jay Mullen, Tarla Rai Peterson Edited by Bryan C. Taylor, William J. Kinsella, Stephen P. Depoe professor and head, Department of Communication, University of Cincinnati, Maribeth S. Metzler

Publication date:

13 April 2007

Length of book:

276 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

230x159mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739119044

Although the Cold War is commonly considered 'over,' the legacies of that conflict continue to unfold throughout the globe. One site of post-Cold War controversy involves the consequences of U.S. nuclear weapons production for worker safety, public health, and the environment. Over the past two decades, citizens, organizations, and governments have passionately debated the nature of these consequences, and how they should be managed. This volume clarifies the role of communication in creating, maintaining, and transforming the relationships between these parties, and in shaping the outcomes of related organizational and political deliberations. Providing various perspectives on nuclear culture and discourse, this anthology serves as a model of interdisciplinary communication scholarship that cuts across the subfields of political, environmental, and organizational communication studies, and rhetoric.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Linking Nuclear Legacies and Communication Studies
Part 2 The Discourse of Officials and Stakeholders of Nuclear Weapons Production
Chapter 3 Convergence and Divergence in the Public Dialogue on Nuclear Weapons Cleanup
Chapter 4 Becoming Hanford Downwinders: Producing Community and Challenging Discursive Containment
Chapter 5 Regional Communication and Sense of Place Surrounding the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Part 6 Organizing the Past, Present, and Future of Nuclear Weapons Production
Chapter 7 Cold War Triumphant: The Rhetorical Uses of History, Memory, and Heritage Preservation within the Department of Energy's Nuclear Weapons Complex
Chapter 8 TRUTH is Generated HERE: Knowledge Loss and the Production of Nuclear Confidence in the Post-Cold War Era
Chapter 9 (Forever) At Work in the Fields of the Bomb: Images of Long Term Stewardship in Post-Cold War Nuclear Discourse
Part 10 Critical Response
Chapter 11 Response: Nuclear Legacies and Opportunities for Politically and Ethically Engaged Communication Scholarship

The volume's emphasis on communicative processes, especially in institutional settings, is a valuable contribution to study of the post-cold war period.... Combining institutional and technical history with rhetoric, communication, and anthropology generates a fascinating mix that deserves the attention of historians of technology.