CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Woodfield, Ruth |
|---|---|
| Title | Depicting Disaster: A Comparative Study of the Visual Media of 20th Century Industrial Disasters in Minamata, Japan and Seveso, Italy |
| Summary | This thesis examines the enduring impact of two industrial disasters – mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, (1956) and a dioxin leak in Seveso, Italy (1976) – to explore how visual media have been used to contest hegemonic narratives and shape collective memory. This thesis asks: how have visual representations such as photography, film, documentary, and grassroots media challenged institutional silence and reframed the meaning of these events? How do these visual narratives influence public understanding of environmental damage? Despite distinct cultural and geographical contexts, both disasters followed similar trajectories of corporate and governmental denial and obfuscation. In contrast, affected communities, activists, photojournalists, and filmmakers produced counter-narratives – highlighting corporate accountability, environmental injustice, and the human cost of industrial pollution. Using visual discourse analysis as its primary methodology, this study conducts a comparative examination of key visual texts, situating them within their broader socio-political and cultural contexts. It positions Minamata and Seveso as powerful symbols of the consequences of unregulated postwar industrialisation. The findings suggest that visual media play a vital role in shaping cultural memory, generating alternative historical narratives, and contributing to the public history of industrial disasters – offering critical insights for contemporary environmental activism and discourse. |
| Supervisor | Renzo, Chiara; Odawara, Rin |
| Department | Historical Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/woodfield_ruth.pdf |
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