Biological citizenship: the science and politics of Chernobyl-exposed populations.
In the transition out of socialism to market capitalism, bodies, populations, and categories of citizenship have been reordered. The rational-technical management of group affected by the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine is a window into this contested process. Chernobyl exemplifies a moment when scientific knowability collapsed and new maps and categories of entitlement emerged. Older models of welfare rely on precise definitions situating citizens and their attributes on a cross-mesh of known categories upon which claims rights are based. Here one observes how ambiguities related to categorizing suffering created a political field in which a state, forms of citizenship, and informal economies were remade.
Petryna
Adriana
A
Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, New School University, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. petrynaa@newschool.edu
D001690:Biological Science Disciplines / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004190:Disasters / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D009678:Nuclear Energy / Q000266:history*; D011057:Politics; D011634:Public Health / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014586:USSR; D014455:Ukraine