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Roughly a third of the above-ground nuclear blasts in Earth’s history have taken place on the coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean. In my paper for this conference, I argue that the US approach to weapons testing at Bikini and Enewetak atolls in the Marshall Islands drew on a long tradition of scientific visitors treating such coral formations as though they were indistinguishable from one another. I also show how this logic was subverted when the displaced islanders of Enewetak atoll mounted a successful legal challenge in the early 1970s to a US Air Force plan to continue using the reef as a site for “cratering” experiments with conventional explosives. This act of local resistance forced scientists to abandon the older conceit that atolls were interchangeable, and instead to argue that the weapons testing had transformed Enewetak from a literal “control atoll” (during the initial US blasts at Bikini) into a unique artefact of forty-three nuclear detonations. It is apt to recall this episode here in Honolulu, not only because this archipelago has also been a site of resistance to weapons testing by the U.S. military but moreover because the specific coral-cratering experiments that were blocked at Enewetak ended up being pursued on the reef of Hawai‘i Island instead.

Sponsel, Alistar. 2023. "Coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean, Marshall Island (Bikini and Enewetak Atoll) and Hawai'i." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11.

The ASTROMOVES project captures the career decision-making of astrophysicists and those in adjacent sciences, with particular attention to ‘intersectional’ identities, sex/gender diversity and visible/invisible disabilities. Qualitative interviews were recorded online (due to the Pandemic) and each scientist was assigned an Indigenous Hawaiian pseudonym. This was a subversive move to remind astrophysicists of the enormous debt they owe to the Hawaiian people for the use of their sacred mountain tops. All of the scientists consented to having a Hawaiian name. Seven scientists chose their own pseudonyms, most were Hawaiian place names: Maui, Waikiki, Waiheke, and Holualoa. Two Brazilians likewise chose Indigenous place names: Caramuru and Paraguaçu. The last name chosen was Kū'oko'a. Kū'oko'a is the Hawaiian concept of freedom, of which I was unaware. When questioned by editors, I had to evoke my Oahu birth as my right to use Hawaiian pseudonyms. For my visualizations, I chose to not use the Mercator projection which artificially enlarges Europe, instead I use the Peters projection or equal area map. Thus, Europe is de-emphasized by showing its area relative to the rest of the world. 

Holbrook, Jarita. 2023. "Visualizing Astrophysicists’ Careers." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11

TS: In this picture, taken by Paul Jobin at the Yunlin County Court in Central Taiwan, a lawyer explains the details of a Formosa Plastics lawsuit to a group of plaintiffs. In our conversation, Paul Jobin said that this picture symbolizes the difficulties to mobilize and "prepare" plaintiffs. At best, many of them are unaware that they have a right to appear in court, but often they are intimidated and fear retaliation. According to Jobin, social scientists can at times help with political organizing, for example by not only interviewing residents, but also informing them about their rights. Likewise, it was Jobin who encouraged the lawyer to take a moment after the hearing to engage with the plaintiffs.