Radiation ecologies in Gerald Vizenor’s Hiroshima Bugi

Abstract

This article examines atomic explosion and radiation ecologies in the trans-Pacific, trans-Indigenous context using the Hiroshima A-bombing as an entry point. Drawing on Elizabeth DeLoughrey’s critical model of radiation ecologies, I investigate contemporary representation and reflections on the first A-bomb to re-visit the history from the present eco-scholarship on nuclear radiation. Taking renowned Native American writer Gerald Vizenor’s Hiroshima Bugi: Atomu 57 as an anchor text, I venture a nuclear criticism that recognizes the violent history of the radioactive Pacific, connecting Indigenous subjects in the trans-Pacific context. My study concludes with Indigenous significance and environmental justice, probing into the ways in which Indigenous peoples bear testimony to radiation ecologies in the Pacific by invoking Indigenous narratives, cultural practices, and forms of resistance against radioactive imperialisms.