Abstract
Between 1966 and 1996, France conducted a series of atmospheric and underground nuclear tests on the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, exposing Polynesian communities to radioactive fallout. The paper seeks to illustrate how France’s nuclear testing program in French Polynesia produced gendered and slow forms of violence extending long after the cessation of testing. Combining environmental history, feminist political ecology, and the analysis of declassified government documents, the paper traces how radioactive contamination entered food systems, damaged reef geology, and generated intergenerational health burdens. The paper additionally examines the gendered impacts of radiation exposure, arguing that Polynesian women experienced a disproportionate burden compared to their male counterparts. France compounded these harms through its continued denial of accountability during and long after the nuclear testing program. By reframing nuclear testing as an ongoing process of slow violence rather than a discrete historical event, this paper highlights the aftermath of nuclear colonialism and its enduring legacy of harm.
Using interdisciplinary methods that combine environmental history, feminist political ecology, and the analysis of declassified government documents, the paper traces how radioactive contamination generated intergenerational health burdens. The paper focuses on the gendered impacts of radiation exposure experienced by Polynesian women through both the social and biological lenses (Olson 2017; Philippe, Schoenberger, and Ahmed, 2022). By reframing nuclear testing as an ongoing process of slow violence rather than a discrete historical event, this paper highlights how colonial power operates through time, secrecy, and structural ignorance to produce enduring harm.
DOI
10.5642/urceu.BRWQ8710
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Maynard, Gillian G.
(2026)
"Slow Violence in French Polynesia: Where the Cold War Got Hot,"
Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union:
Vol. 2026, Article 9.
DOI: 10.5642/urceu.BRWQ8710
Available at:
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/urceu/vol2026/iss1/9
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