Event: "Resisting Nuclear Colonialism through Memorialisation: Nuclear Justice Education and Awareness in the Pacific"
Date: Monday 3 February 2025
Time: 15:00 – 16:30 (CET)
Venue: UM Msida Campus, IT Services, Room: VC 102 and online (via Zoom)
The Islands and Small States Institute (ISSI) of the University of Malta will be holding a seminar/webinar titled “Resisting Nuclear Colonialism through Memorialisation: Nuclear Justice Education and Awareness in the Pacific”. As part of the event, the short film “In Exile” (2023) by Director Nathan Finch will be screened.
The event will take place on Monday 3 February 2025 between 15:00 and 16:30 (CET), in Room VC 102, IT Services Building, University of Malta Msida Campus. To register your attendance in person, please send an email. Remote participation on Zoom is also possible and requires registration online.
Abstract: After World War II, the Pacific region served as a nuclear playground for several decades. Over 300 known atomic devices were detonated by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, with long-standing region wide impacts on both the people and environment. Today, the island communities in the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and French Polynesia continue to seek nuclear justice while facing another existential threat, that of climate change.
This talk explores the requirements for nuclear justice in the post-colonial context, focusing on memorialisation. As an important element of nuclear justice, memorialisation provides societies with ways to educate their people on this widely ignored part of world history. By looking at education and awareness initiatives developed in the Marshall Islands as an example, the work illustrates the importance of memorialisation in contesting nuclear colonialism and hegemonic history.
About the speaker: Dr Milla Vaha is a Senior Lecturer of Politics and International Affairs at the University of the South Pacific. In winter 2024-2025, she is a visiting research fellow at Academy of International Affairs NRW in Bonn, Germany. In her research, she is broadly interested in the questions of ethics and world politics and her current work explores the relationship between the existential threat of climate change and nuclear testing histories in the Pacific region. She is the author of The Moral Standing of the State in International Politics: A Kantian Account (2021) as well as various journal articles and book chapters.
About the speaker: Dr Milla Vaha is a Senior Lecturer of Politics and International Affairs at the University of the South Pacific. In winter 2024-2025, she is a visiting research fellow at Academy of International Affairs NRW in Bonn, Germany. In her research, she is broadly interested in the questions of ethics and world politics and her current work explores the relationship between the existential threat of climate change and nuclear testing histories in the Pacific region. She is the author of The Moral Standing of the State in International Politics: A Kantian Account (2021) as well as various journal articles and book chapters.
The event will be hosted by Prof. Stefano Moncada, Director of the ISSI.
Further information is available by email.