Langhamer article CBH 2018.pdf (233.76 kB)
Mass observing the atom bomb: the emotional politics of August 1945
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 12:13 authored by Claire LanghamerIn August 1945 the social investigative organisation, Mass-Observation, asked its panel of volunteer writers to ‘Describe in detail your own feelings and views about the atom bomb, and those of the people you meet.’ This article uses the responses to explore the emotional politics of ‘nuclearity’ in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. First it examines the impact that the atomic explosions had upon ways of narrating, and managing, the emotional self. Second it explores the influence of nuclear knowledge on felt social relations. The article argues that first use of the atom bomb had a profound impact upon British people’s understandings of the past, the present and the political future; and that the responses of ordinary people in turn helped to shape a messy and contradictory popular nuclear culture within which feeling operated as a way of knowing, and intervening in, the world.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Contemporary British HistoryISSN
1361-9462Publisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Department affiliated with
- History Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-02-19First Open Access (FOA) Date
2020-03-21First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-02-19Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedLicence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC