@article{stawkowski_2017, title={Everyday Radioactive Goods? Economic Development at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan}, volume={76}, ISSN={["1752-0401"]}, DOI={10.1017/s0021911817000079}, abstractNote={I first heard of “radioactive coal” in the summer of 2012, when I was living in the small village of Koyan, one of many settlements in Eastern Kazakhstan that hosted the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. A scandal over the sale of radioactive coal had erupted in the fall of 2011 when local media began reporting on a train from Kazakhstan carrying more than eight thousand tons of it (in 130 wagons) to a heating plant in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Upon discovering that radioactivity in the shipment was eight times higher than normal, Kyrgyz authorities had it removed from the Bishkek's central heating plant. Rather than discarding it, they put it to use elsewhere, including in the heating stoves of more than one orphanage, a kindergarten, and several rural schools. When media covered this development, public outcry forced Kyrgyz politicians to demand that the coal be returned to Kazakhstan; allegations of corruption and arrests of Kyrgyz officials ensued. Political wrangling over responsibility and refunds meant that negotiations between Kazakh and Kyrgyz authorities took more than a year to complete. Finally, Kazakhstan allowed the coal to be returned.}, number={2}, journal={JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES}, author={Stawkowski, Magdalena E.}, year={2017}, month={May}, pages={423–436} }
 @article{stawkowski_2017, title={Radiophobia had to be reinvented}, volume={58}, ISSN={["1473-5776"]}, DOI={10.1080/14735784.2017.1356740}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT In recent years, the Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology in Kazakhstan has proposed a plan to return large segments of the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site to economic activity, notably farming and stock breeding. Despite fierce opposition to the plan, the Institute has framed these concerns as a case of ‘radiophobia’ or the irrational fear of radiation. In this article, I explore how a nexus of forces situates radiophobia as a mental health issue rooted in the irrational belief that radiation is harmful. Radiophobia is thus constructed as a mental disorder located inside the head of its victims rather than in the public domain. The deployment of radiophobia, therefore, illuminates a broader political and economic strategy in Kazakhstan that deprioritizes issues of public health and blocks the proper securitisation of a radioactive landscape.}, number={4}, journal={CULTURE THEORY AND CRITIQUE}, author={Stawkowski, Magdalena E.}, year={2017}, pages={357–374} }