CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Bikenova, Aidana |
|---|---|
| Title | Collective Memory and Future Imaginaries: Public Perspectives on Nuclear Power in Semey, Kazakhstan |
| Summary | In 2024, residents of Semey, Kazakhstan, found themselves at the crossroads of historical trauma related to nuclear weapon detonations and prospects of nuclear power plant (NPP) construction. As a city impacted by Soviet nuclear weapon testing, the referendum, in which residents had to cast a vote in favor or against the NPP, created a public controversy. Despite the heated debates preceding the referendum, official data indicates a 70.3% vote share in favor of the NPP. The controversy is still developing as some believe the referendum was not fully transparent and their voices were not heard. Thus, this research explores how Semey’s residents comprehend the future of nuclear energy in relation collective memory of nuclear weapon testing. To understand how people and the state explain their perspectives about nuclear energy, I conducted 11 semi-structured interviews, a focus-group discussion and visited the exhibition hall of the history of the Semipalatinsk test site (STS). The results show the disjuncture between residents' political subjectivities and institutional representations of the nuclear past and future, wherein residents’ embedded, embodied and deeply personal explanations clash with abstract and scientific representations of the political-scientific field. Moreover, this research finds that the trauma related to nuclear bombs cannot be treated as a variable in constitution of people’s opinions: it can only be understood in the light of its irreducible totality as relating to and interacting with wider social and political circumstances. |
| Supervisor | Berg, Anna Lea; Zentai, Violetta; |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/bikenova_aidana.pdf |
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