Emily Yates-Doerr

“Nuclear Stories” is a cultural excavation of rumors of radiation poisoning in a 1950s South Dakota farming town. The research uses a novel integration of community ethnography and archaeological soil core analysis to examine how memories of nuclear fallout have shaped community life across generations and how people respond to new research that revisits these memories. The innovative force of the project is to examine the evidence in cultural memories alongside the evidence in material samples, shedding light on how people negotiate the often conflicting truth(s) offered by science, the state, and their kin. The research works with local participants to produce a podcast that will serve as a channel for the co-creation of knowledge and a valuable public archive. “Nuclear Stories” provides a rich archaeo-ethnographic account of the enduring impacts of Cold War violence while also unearthing pathways for regeneration and repair.