Attivismo femminile e deperiferizzazione del disastro nucleare nel Giappone post Fukushima

The singular causal link among natural events (the magnitude-9 earthquake and the resultant tsunami of 11 March 2011), technological disaster (the meltdown of three of the six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the following days) and its human and environmental consequences, makes the Japanese case complex and, at the same time, paradigmatic of how post-disaster contexts can become an arena for competing perceptions, narratives and memories of the tragedy. The situation in post-disaster Fukushima is complicated by differentiated risk perceptions and socio-economic conditions which lead individuals to find different solutions to manage their fear, and by debatable measures of evacuation, relocation and support that contribute to sharpening divisions and tensions within local communities and families, and even among “forced” and “voluntary” evacuees. In such a fragmented situation, there are women who denounce the insufficient information on radiation and the government’s nuclear policy and response to the nuclear crisis; demand guarantees for the health and safety of their children and communities, and adequate supports and compensations; and reaffirm the centrality of the nuclear disaster in national political agenda and identity. They contribute to re-build their communities, to create resilient society, and to make Fukushima a little less surreal.