Module 3 Chernobyl Disaster Discussion Board
For Discussion Forum 3, please address any of the questions below. As always: you are required to make a minimum of THREE (3) posts per module. At least one of your three posts should be your own original comment; at least one – should be a response to or comment on something another classmate has posted; the third post can be either your own original post or a comment on a classmate’s post. Keep in mind that your response should NOT simply be a summary of the assigned reading. A higher grade will be awarded to posts that demonstrate student’s ability to provide an original interpretation of the topic while also applying relevant concepts, issues, and theories covered in the module.
1.Some historians (and Mikhail Gorbachev himself) believe that “Chernobyl was the real reason the Soviet Union collapsed (Links to an external site.).” Discuss why this nuclear meltdown might indeed be one of the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
2. As you read in this module’s materials, in 2002, the radioactive “Exclusion Zone” surrounding the Chernobyl powerplant was deemed safe enough to permit guided tours of the area. In 2011 Chernobyl was officially declared a “tourist attraction” (one day round-trip tour from Kiev is $165 per person). What do you think about disaster tourism (or, for that matter, of any type of the so-called “thanatourism” or the “dark” tourism that takes travelers to concentration camps, dungeons, prisons, or graveyards)? Where does one draw the line between memorialization and commercialization? Should there be any clear guidelines on the ethics of marketing and promoting these sites? Make sure to draw parallels and cite materials from this module.
3. Many of this module’s texts (both literary and cinematic) focus on the fate of local residents and rescue workers who were directly exposed to radiation or evacuated from their homes in the aftermath of the explosion. Discuss any of the texts (poem, film, story) that left the deepest impression on you. How does this particular text (or texts) describe the way the Chernobyl catastrophe changed / upset / undermined people’s everyday lives?
4. Discuss the documentary Babushkas of Chernobyl. What stood out to you / surprised you the most? Why do you think these ladies insist on living on farms that the Ukrainian government and radiation scientists have deemed uninhabitable? How do they manage to get by, isolated, in an abandoned landscape guarded by soldiers, and rife with wild animals? How has the radiation affected them these past 3 decades? How is it possible that these women’s connection to their community stronger than “radiophobia” (fear of radiation)? Lastly, does it seem like the Ukrainian government is providing these women with sufficient support? And, to give you a slightly different perspective on “uprooting” one’s family, here is another story and a reaction from Chernoby’s survivors to the film from TED Talk (Links to an external site.). How do you compare Tania’s story to the story of the film’s babushkas who wanted to have their dead bodies “smuggled” back into the “Exclusion zone” to make sure they are buried in their homeland?
5. Many of the module’s personal narratives focus on human trauma and suffering that thousands of people had to endure after the Chernobyl disaster. From what you learned in this module, do you feel that the Soviet government’s response to the catastrophe was adequate / appropriate? Was there anything specific that the Soviet government did (or didn’t do) that surprised you?
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