Lost in Communication : Non-fiction representations of genetic stigma

Bernier, Ariel and Spiers, Emily and Murphy, Samuel and Braun, Rebecca (2024) Lost in Communication : Non-fiction representations of genetic stigma. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Recently renewed support for nuclear power is inevitably followed by concern about future radiological accidents. In order to deal with these future challenges, I propose a narrative ethics analysis of Craig Mazin’s Chernobyl (2019) in an effort to better understand the contributions of pop-culture nuclear narratives to wider nuclear safety “sociotechnical imaginaries” which, according to STS scholars Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim, potentially inform or challenge radiation protection policy decision making. Focusing on representations of genetic stigma, I borrow from narrative ethics scholars James Phelan, David Richter and Maria Mäkela to explore how a dramatized retelling of true events integrates wider nuclear safety imaginaries. First, I examine the Fukushima Daiichi aftermath as the stage of radiation “in/visibility” politics and resituate concerns about radiation exposure within STS and risk communication scholarship, international guidelines and “lessons learned,” in order to identify pop-culture narratives as perceived competitors of official risk communications. Then, I briefly study the evolution of nuclear narratives since the start of the Cold War, while also addressing the reality of genetic stigma in order to identify how it was deployed as a narrative topic or storytelling theme in the past. This allows me to conduct my analysis of Chernobyl by first studying how its political framing of scientific truth and narrative lies forces survivors’ stories to fit into its own moralized dichotomy, then by studying how it uses artifice to create a problematic illusion of “pastness” that serves to exploit the experiences of people exposed to radiation. I conclude that Chernobyl further entrenches genetic stigma in wider nuclear safety imaginaries by perpetuating the idea that individuals exposed to radiation are a danger to others with the help of traditional and social media paratexts through which it solidified its illusory historical and scientific authenticity.