3.11 Virtual Conference: Building a Bridge to Disaster Studies

Based on our very successful event last year, the STS Forum on the 2011 Fukushima/East Japan Disaster and Teach 3.11 have organized another co-sponsored, online virtual conference to be held on the second memorial anniversary of the disaster:

STS Forum on the 2011 Fukushima/East Japan Disaster & Teach 3.11 3.11 Virtual Conference: Building a Bridge to Disaster Studies

An online pre-circulated papers workshop, with scheduled open comment period 11-14 March 2013 All participants welcome!

In the two years since the disaster, the scholarship on the disaster has continued to mature. This year, while we continue to welcome, and will be presenting new empirical material, we have also gathered featured essays that will help build a bridge between our understanding of the East Japan Disaster and the emerging work in the broader field of Disaster Studies.

At 8:00 a.m. JST, on March 11th (7:00 p.m. EDT on March 10th in the US), we will open up the conference by posting a collection of featured essays.* We expect to have essays by

• Cecilia Ioana Manoliu (University of Tsukuba) on recovery and resilience after the 3.11 earthquake
• Marja Ylönen (University of Jyväskylä) on signaled and silenced aspects of nuclear regulation
• Markku Lehtonen (University of Sussex) on a comparative study of reactions to Fukushima
• Tino Bruno (Univ. Jean Moulin) on US and French advocacy of civilian nuclear power
• Charlotte Cabasse (University of California, Berkeley) on the mapping and making of risk
• David Novak (UC Santa Barbara) on performing antinuclear movements on post-3.11 Japan
• Noriko Manabe (Princeton University) on music and spaces of protest
• Chika Watanabe (Cornell University) on the ambiguity of lessons in post-disaster recovery
• Xiaomin Zhu (Peking University) on science communication for science literacy
• Yuko Kobayashi (Anti-nuclear activist) on the Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring Project in the vicinity of Fukushima Dai-ichi
• Yuji Miyake (professional engineer) on radiation dispersion
• Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer) and on synopses of the 2012 SHOT Workshop and 4S annual meeting

In addition to providing an opportunity for everyone to comment on these essays, we will also encourage everyone to post their own thoughts and to introduce their own work through the Fukushima Forum Google Groups site (the Forum will be made open for the duration of the Virtual Conference). *Please bookmark http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/online-forum-2/second-3-11-virtual-conference-2013/

Our hope is that the virtual conference will continue to provide people with an opportunity to mark anniversary of the March 11, 2011 disasters with a time of reflection, scholarly inquiry, and open conversation.  Please join us in this conversation.

Sincerely, Atsushi Akera (Rensselaer Polytechnic University) Principal organizer, STS Forum on the 2011 Fukushima/East Japan Disaster

Lisa Onaga (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Managing Editor, Teach 3.11