Norrköping, Sweden, 7–11 October 2024

The Nuclear Natures research project is organizing a PhD autumn school and a conference on the theme of Nuclear Natures. Both events will take place in Norrköping, Sweden, on Monday to Wednesday, 7–11 October 2024 (autumn school), and Wednesday to Friday, 9–11 October 2024 (conference).

Since its emergence, nuclear technology has impacted and been impacted by natural environments, materials and elements, and other non-human entities. In this autumn school and conference, we want to explore the many types of ‘nuclear natures’ that the nuclear age has produced. From buffer zones around operating nuclear facilities and long-term contaminated sites after accidents and ‘testing’ to the open landscape scars of uranium mines and waste storage sites dug deep into the earth, these altered environments, or ‘nuclear natures’, demand our sustained critical attention. We invite attendants to engage with existing scholarship around the theme and to explore new avenues of research and artistic intervention. Looking at the multiple intersections and entanglements between the nuclear and nature, could it be that both the states of ‘being nuclear’ and ‘being natural’ are more complicated than we might initially think?

Relevant topics include but are not limited to:

• Ecologies of and life on and around operating and decommissioned nuclear sites
• Phyto- and other modes of organic remediation in contaminated landscapes
• Greenfielding, greyfielding, and rewilding of nuclear sites
• Narratives and tropes of nuclearity in ecological writing
• Representations of nature in nuclear discourse
• Temporalities and scales of ‘nuclear natures’
• The Nuclear Anthropocene
• Encounters with and governance of nuclear animals
• Intersecting histories of radioecology and ecology

We invite scholars of any discipline within the humanities, social sciences and the arts, and scholars at any career stage, interested in exploring the theme of Nuclear Natures in an intimate and interdisciplinary setting. We especially welcome early career scholars, and scholars based outside of Europe and North America. There is no attendance fee.

The autumn school team of teachers consists of members of the Nuclear Natures research group. In addition, we are excited and honoured to introduce three invited guest teachers and keynote speakers.

David E. Nye is Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. Among his numerous influential books are American Technological Sublime (1994), The Environmental Humanities: A Critical Introduction (with Robert S. Emmett, 2017), and Conflicted American Landscapes (2021). 

Petra Tjitske Kalshoven is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. Her current research explores tensions between human, more-than-human and ecosystemic interests in areas of nuclear decommissioning, such as Sellafield in West Cumbria, Dounreay in Caithness, COVRA in the Netherlands, and La Hague in Normandy. 

Ele Carpenter is Professor of Interdisciplinary Art & Culture at Umeå School of Architecture, and Director of UmArts. She is a research-based curator and scholar of interdisciplinary politicized art, among many other things, involved in discussions about memory communication around nuclear waste repositories, as curator of the travelling exhibition Perpetual Uncertainty, and editor of The Nuclear Culture Source Book. 

Conference

The Nuclear Natures conference will take place at Arbetets museum (Museum of Work) in Norrköping on 9–11 October 2024. Participation in the conference is on-site with no possibility to attend remotely. The conference program consists of academic papers as well as artistic interventions. The number of delegates is 45.

Autumn school

The Nuclear Natures PhD autumn school will take place at the beautiful Wadströmska villan in the vibrant city of Norrköping on 7–9 October 2024 (lectures, seminars, etc.) and at Arbetets museum (Museum of Work) on 9–11 October 2024 (conference attendance). Participation in the autumn school and conference is on-site with no possibility to attend remotely. The number of PhD student participants is 15.

The autumn school includes 2.5 days of lectures, seminars etc, and 2.5 days of participation in the Nuclear Natures conference. As course work, students will prepare a working paper for circulation by 4 September 2024. Full attendance in the autumn school corresponds to 5 ECTS points.

21 December 2023 – Call for autumn school applications and conference paper abstracts opens

15 March 2024 – Call for autumn school applications and conference paper abstracts closes

2 April 2024 – Notification of acceptance to autumn school and conference

15 May 2024 – Registration closes

1 September 2024 4 September 2024 – Circulation of working papers for the autumn school – NOTE THE NEW DATE!

7–11 October 2024 – Autumn school

9–11 October 2024 – Conference