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

0214406维尔纳 （与0214037，Purvis合作）这项由德克萨斯A M大学的人类学家，克莱蒙麦肯纳学院的化学家和东哈萨克斯坦州国家卫生保健机构的医生合作进行的研究将检查哈萨克斯坦塞米巴拉金斯克附近前苏联核试验场辐射暴露的感知风险。有些人从事高风险活动，如在前试验场开采铜矿，有些人继续住在试验场附近，该项目将研究三个社会群体-哈萨克村民、当地研究科学家和当地保健工作者-如何看待辐射照射的风险。该项目将利用参与者观察法，对两个村庄（一个试验村靠近场址，另一个对照村远离场址）的30名研究科学家、100名保健工作者和400名村民进行调查，评估过去感知到的风险、目前感知到的风险以及对辐射照射造成的健康风险的理解。这项研究将有助于了解文化差异，人们如何在辐射暴露是真实的，而不是假设的情况下，对政府的不信任是普遍存在的，以及线人使用传统和现代的方式来处理他们的情况下，对感知的风险作出反应。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.