Magdalena Edyta Stawkowski

This project partners with Koian village and several communities near Kazakhstan’s former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site to create the country’s first systematic nuclear oral history collection and community-curated exhibition. Unlike the United States or Japan, which have established oral history projects documenting nuclear testing impacts, Kazakhstan lacks any comparable effort to preserve community voices despite experiencing 456 nuclear tests over 40 years. Building on established relationships through previous collaborative research and partnering with the Karaganda EcoMuseum, this project empowers community members as co-investigators who control all research phases. Over 16 months, community partners will lead collection of oral histories, photographs, and personal artifacts documenting nuclear testing impacts and community resilience. Rather than being research subjects, residents—primarily indigenous ethnic Kazakhs—will decide which narratives to highlight and how to present them publicly, moving beyond victimization frameworks toward complex accounts of agency and adaptation. The project includes voices from historically ignored western regions. This collaborative approach challenges traditional research relationships by positioning community members as experts and decision-makers. The resulting exhibition will launch in summer 2027 and establish sustainable infrastructure for ongoing community-controlled documentation. The project contributes to conversations about environmental justice, historical memory, and decolonizing research methodologies while creating permanent platforms.