VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: Fukushima - Looking back to look forward. 11-12 May]

3.11 Virtual Conference: Looking back to look forward
11-12 March 2012
Begins 11 March, 8:00 a.m., Japan Standard Time (6:00 p.m., March 10, EST)
http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/online-forum/
On the one-year anniversary of the triple disasters that devastated
eastern Japan we welcome you to participate in an interdisciplinary online
conversation, taking place 11-12 March 2012.  The event will commemorate
and discuss major issues and concerns raised - and still unsettled -
related to the confluence of last year's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear
disasters.

Scholars from multiple disciplines, especially in the fields of history of
science and technology and science studies, will lead an online discussion
about this moment of rupture in history in a "virtual conference"
co-sponsored by the Fukushima Forum and Teach 3.11. Taking this time to
reflect deliberately on the harrowing tragedies of 3.11 and the ongoing
recovery processes in and surrounding the Tohoku region of Japan, this
meeting provides a forum for colleagues to show solidarity and exchange
ideas, questions, and concerns related to issues that seem to have no
immediate closure. Looking at the past to think about the future, this
online conversation aims to facilitate thoughtful discussion about the
triple disasters. In addition, it provides a space in which to consider
how our multidisciplinary experiences in the historical, anthropological,
and social studies of science, technology, environment, and medicine
continue to inform our own understandings of issues, while also
considering how this confluence of catastrophes presents a disciplinary
rupture, so to speak, exposing the importance of familiarity with Asian
languages and culture.
The format of the virtual conference will consist of a 48-hour period of
open online dialogue and commenting in response to several essays that
will be posted at the Fukushima Forum web site (please sign on at
http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/conferences/ ). Scholars of any
discipline are invited to contribute to this discussion on the Fukushima
Forum blog, and/or inamoreinformal,
conversationalsettingontheFukushimaForumGoogleGroupssite (please register
at
http://groups.google.com/group/fukushima-forum?hl=en ). Registration is
open and ongoing through 12 March. Participants are also encouraged to
submit their own topics and essays for conversation as well as to share
information; moderation in both instances will be provided throughout by
the co-sponsors.

Throughout the two-day online conference, comments may touch upon these
and other topics:
-- histories of tsunami, earthquakes, environment, geological sciences,
ocean sciences, and nuclear science in Japan and in relation to other
countries
-- the impact of the disasters on Japanese citizens and communities,
neighboring countries
-- global and popular culture reactions to the disasters
-- Japanese nuclear power in light of history of atomic bomb and postwar
US occupation
-- waste remediation and labor practices
-- government management/public policy of disasters in Japan and beyond
-- refugees and displacement, poverty, public health, and food safety in
Japan
-- commemoration and historical memory
-- research agendas and research communities going forward
For more information, please contact Scott Gabriel Knowles at
sgk23@drexel.edu.
Co-Sponsors:
Fukushima Forum consists of a group of scholars who have formed to
exchange ideas around the science, technology, and society (STS)
dimensions of the 3.11 disasters.
Teach 3.11 (www.teach311.wordpress.com) is a multi-language, online
collaborative educational project that serves to introduce resources
useful to "teach the disaster" through the lens of history of science,
technology, environment, and medicine in global East Asia. Teach 3.11 is
also a project of the Forum for the History of Science in Asia.




--
Scott Gabriel Knowles, Ph.D.
Drexel University
Associate Professor, Department of History and Politics
Associate Dean and Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry, Pennoni
Honors College


3141 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19104
Phone: 215-895-6762; Fax: 215-895-6614
http://www.drexel.edu/greatworks/