HS 3211 / 3711 / 6211
The Nuclear Age: From Hiroshima to Nuclear Terrorism

Lecturer: Dr Jeff Hughes

Aims and Objectives:
The nuclear age, now over fifty years old, has exerted an unimaginably profound effect on late twentieth-century patterns of thought and ways of living. From the detonation of the first nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, nuclear weapons, nuclear energy and the culture surrounding them have shaped our lives. The explosions inaugurating the nuclear age transformed international military and political relationships. They also transformed popular culture and social life: art, literature and film as well as politics and military doctrine have all reflected and embodied the traumas of nuclear culture.

Accessible to scientists and non-scientists, this course aims to explore the origins and development of nuclear culture, and tries to shed light on the interactions of science, technology, politics, gender and cultural production in the nuclear world. The course also asks: can a new understanding of nuclear discourse help us come to terms with the nuclear past, and does it offer any guidance as to how we should think about the nuclear present and the nuclear future?

Outline Syllabus:

Introduction: The Birth of the Nuclear Age
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the End of World War II
From Few to Many: Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear Culture, 1945-1955
MAD: Thermonuclear Strategy and the Cold War
"Too Cheap to Meter": Wasn't the Future of Nuclear Energy Wonderful?
Nuclear Phallacies: Gender in Nuclear Culture
Atoms for Peace: Disarming Nuclear Culture from Within
CND and the Anti-Nuclear Movement: Disarming Nuclear Culture from Without
From the Bay of Pigs to Armageddon: The Cuban Missile Crisis
The China Syndrome: Nuclear Accidents and the Popular Imagination
Postmodern Nukespeak: Baudrillard, Derrida and the the End of the Cold War
The course will be illustrated with films and literature of the nuclear age (e.g. Doctor Strangelove, On the Beach): these materials may form the basis of assessment essays.

Details:
One lecture and one seminar per week.
Semester 1
Level 3
Prerequisites: None
Times:
Lecture: see timetable
Seminar: times to be arranged on first lecture date

Course Assessment:
10 credits (HS 3212)
Seminar work (50%)
1,500 word essay (50%)
20 credits (HS 3712)
Seminar work (25%)
1,500 word essay (25%)
3,000 word project (50%)
MA / MSc (HS 6212)
3,500 word essay

Sample reading:
S. Weart, Nuclear Fear: A History of Images (Harvard University Press, 1988).
K. Ruthven, Nuclear Criticism (Melbourne University Press, 1993)
CNN Cold War website

Students' Comments:
"Ever wondered why people made weapons of mass destruction? Ever wondered how our lives have been moulded over the last sixty years by the politics of fear and the fear of science? As a chemistry student I was not used to arguing opinions in seminars, investigating evidence from all sides of the story and discussing what science actually means to everyday people but I've now learnt how important these skills are. This course taught me not only how close we have come to apocalypse and what the reality of nuclear technology is in our lives. It has taught me importance of the science of politics and the politics of science."

Ben Dadds, 3rd year chemist, 2000-1

"If you think that science isn't exciting, think again! This course teaches students how to put shocking events and everyday occurrences in to perspective through the exciting saga of the nuclear age. It links science, culture and politics, highlighting their relevance to our lives today,
and is a must for science or humanities students looking for something diverse. It also gives students from different disciplines the chance to discuss their experiences and perceptions of science. I will never look at chemistry in the same way again!"

Jennie Pollard, 3rd year chemist, 2000-1