12 Events

A stack of books about nuclear weapons.

Mariana Budjeryn

Special Series - Open to the Public

Beyond the Nuclear Canon: Teaching the Bomb in the 21st Century

Fri., Sep. 23, 2022 | 10:00am - 12:00pm

Online

 

Over the past several decades, the nuclear field has developed a classical canon of seemingly sacred texts. These works are likely to be assigned in university-level courses on nuclear policy across the United States and the globe. Over the past few years, however, the nuclear field – just as affected by hierarchies and injustices as other social milieus – has been shaken by calls to critically rethink the global nuclear predicament and engage with more diverse voices and perspectives. This must involve interrogating the transmitter of nuclear knowledge: the academic syllabus. It is imperative to revisit how nuclear courses are taught, what questions are raised, and what texts are assigned. Accordingly, MTA brings together a group of exceptional scholars and long-time teachers of nuclear history and politics to discuss challenges, discoveries, frustrations, and the importance of teaching the bomb in the 21st century.

 

 

 

An artistic representation of origami cranes, which are displayed at the Hiroshima Children's Peace Monument.

Danapit/Wikimedia Commons

Special Series - Open to the Public

Nuclear Knowledge Production: Authority, Truths, and Making Sense of the Bomb

Fri., Jan. 21, 2022 | 10:00am - 12:00pm

Online

Nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors are designed, built, deployed, and managed—with intention and purpose—by human beings embedded in and shaped by institutional, social, and political contexts. These contexts affect how people interpret and respond to the benefits and dangers of nuclear technologies. But whose interpretations and modes of reasoning count as authoritative, competent, and trustworthy—and whose are discounted or dismissed?

This event is hosted by the Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) as part of its Atomic Voices series, a discussion forum for perspectives on diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the nuclear field.

Special Series - Open to the Public

Pipelines and Ceilings: The Gender Gap in Nuclear Policy

Fri., Oct. 29, 2021 | 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Online

The field of national and international security, and nuclear policy in particular, has traditionally been predominantly white and predominantly male in composition. It remains so, despite the declared commitment of many organizations to attract women and minorities and earnest policies and practices to do so. Only about one-third of professionals in the WMD policy and research field are women. The gap is far wider for women of color. What are the most challenging obstacles to diversifying the nuclear field?

This event is hosted by the Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) as part of its Atomic Voices series, a discussion forum for perspectives on diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the nuclear field.

The Rio Tinto Rössing uranium mine in Namibia.

Lokal_Profil/Wikimedia Commons

Special Series - Open to the Public

Africa and the Atom: Rethinking African Agency in the Global Nuclear Order

Fri., Mar. 26, 2021 | 10:00am - 12:00pm

Online

Nuclear politics across the African continent are complex and diverse. Yet, Western-centric scholarship and policymaking tend to overlook the multitude of perspectives on nuclear energy and weapons within Africa. Dominant nuclear discourses obscure the narratives of Africa's regions, countries, and peoples. Closer examination reveals a vast and intricate tapestry of nuclear spaces and identities imprinted on the continent’s colonial and post-colonial experience. In the atomic age, these experiences have included: uranium mining, nuclear explosive testing, the Bandung Conference, development and rollback of South Africa's nuclear weapons program, participation in nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament initiatives, and pursuit of civilian nuclear energy. This panel brings together a diverse group of scholars to examine African relationships with nuclear arms and nuclear energy through the lenses of security, development, climate change and the environment, and global justice and equality.

A scene from the film featuring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman.

Buena Vista Pictures

Special Series - Open to the Public

"Crimson Tide" Screening & Discussion

Wed., Feb. 5, 2020 | 5:00pm - 8:00pm

The Belfer Center’s Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) invites you to a screening of Tony Scott’s nuclear submarine thriller Crimson Tide, immediately followed by a discussion and Q&A session with Lieutenants Erica Leinmiller and Micah Dose, both of whom have served as submarine officers. Introduction by Managing the Atom Senior Research Associate Nickolas Roth.

Pizza and other refreshments will be served. RSVP required.

Location: T-G50 (bottom floor of Taubman Building)

15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

A scene from "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb"

Sony Pictures/Flickr user "Insomnia Cured Here"

Special Series - Open to the Public

"Dr. Strangelove" Screening & Discussion

Thu., Nov. 21, 2019 | 5:15pm - 8:15pm

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) invites you to a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s classic dark comedy, Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, immediately followed by a discussion and Q&A session with “NUKEMAP” creator and historian Prof. Alex Wellerstein, moderated by MTA Senior Research Associate Nickolas Roth.

Pizza and other refreshments will be served! RSVP required.

Location: T-G50 (bottom floor of Taubman Building)

15 Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Special Series - Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

And Then What? Imagining the Middle East if Nuclear Negotiations with Iran Fail

Wed., Feb. 4, 2015 | 12:00pm - 2:00pm

Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369

As nuclear negotiations with Iran go into their second year, and the US congress considers a new sanctions bill, the chances of reaching a comprehensive settlement are highly uncertain. The number of regional and global actors with stakes in Iran’s nuclear trajectory means that a failure of negotiations would have far-reaching consequences. Different scenarios leading to the breakdown of talks could produce distinct pathways for the aftermath of diplomatic failure. In particular, whether or not negotiations end with the P5+1 united or divided will affect the prospects of further multilateral sanctions, as well as the behavior of Iran and its regional rivals.  The panel will examine these scenarios, and consider the consequences of a collapse of the negotiations for Iran’s nuclear policy, for regional politics and security, and for relations among the P5+1.