Collaborative Research: Perceptions of Risk From Nuclear Testing in Kazakhstan: A Comparative Study of Kazakh Villagers, Health Care Workers & Research Scientists

0214406Werner(与0214037合作，普尔维斯)这项由德克萨斯A&M大学的人类学家、克莱蒙特·麦肯纳学院的化学家和东哈萨克斯坦东部国家卫生保健机构的内科医生共同开展的研究，将检查哈萨克斯坦塞米巴拉金斯克附近的一个前苏联核试验场辐射暴露的潜在风险。一些人在原试验场从事开采铜等高风险活动，一些个人继续居住在该试验场附近。该项目将研究哈萨克村民、当地研究科学家和当地卫生保健工作者这三个社会群体如何感知辐射暴露的风险。通过参与式观察，对两个村庄(一个靠近试验村，一个远离现场的对照村)的30名研究科学家、100名卫生保健工作者和400名村民进行调查，该项目将评估过去感知的风险、现在感知的风险以及对辐射暴露造成的健康风险的了解。这项研究将有助于理解人们在以下情况下对感知风险的反应的文化差异：辐射暴露是实际的，而不是假想的；对政府的不信任普遍存在；告密者使用传统和现代的方法来处理他们的情况。这项研究将促进我们对当地文化如何影响风险认知和与风险理解相关的政治活动的理解。

0214406Werner (collaborative with 0214037, Purvis)This collaborative research by an anthropologist at Texas A& M University, a chemist at Claremont McKenna College, and a physician at the East-Kazakhstan Oblast State Agency for Health Care will examine perceived risk from radiation exposure at a former Soviet nuclear test site near Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. Some persons engage in high-risk activities such as mining copper at the former test site, and some individuals continue to live near it. The project will study how three social groups, Kazakh villagers, local research scientists, and local health care workers, perceive the risk from radiation exposure. Using participant observation, a survey of 30 research scientists, 100 health care workers and 400 villagers in two villages (a test village close to, and a control village distant from the site), the project will assess the perceived risk in the past, the perceived risk at present, and the understanding of health risks due to radiation exposure. The study will contribute to the understanding of cultural differences in how people react to perceived risk in a situation where the radiation exposure is actual, not hypothetical, where mistrust of the government is pervasive, and where informants use traditional as well as modern ways of dealing with their situation. The study will advance our understanding of how local culture affects risk perception and political activity relevant to the understanding of risk.