The Lessons of Fukushima
Willamette University
February 24-25, 2012

The disastrous earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11, 2011 drew the immediate attention and sympathy of the international community. Successive meltdowns and malfunctions at the Fukushima nuclear power plants heightened global concern and the disaster continues to unfold one year later with no end in sight. The Fukushima disasters present challenges not only to the Japanese people and nation-state, but to the world at large.

What can we learn from Fukushima?  What is our collective responsibility as educators, activists, and citizens in the face of this natural and human tragedy?  In presenting this symposium, we seek to identify and learn from the global lessons of Fukushima.

We invite scholars, community advocates, and government representatives to submit proposals for papers that address the broad theme of “The Lessons of Fukushima” as relevant to Japan, the U.S., or other world areas. We intend the symposium to function as a vehicle for education and collaboration; we hope to inspire both interdisciplinary and inter-agency conversations.

Interested respondents should submit a 250-word abstract of the proposed paper to Cecily McCaffrey at cmccaffr@willamette.edu by December 1, 2011. Invitations to the symposium will be issued by December 15, 2011.