Paper short abstract:

This paper intends to analyze how contrasting discourses on risk in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident have created a drift in the meaning of social roles within families affected by the accident, especially in the case of self-evacuees, using sociological and discursive institutionalism.

Paper long abstract:

In the aftermath of the 3.11 triple disaster, evacuation in and from Fukushima prefecture has been a central issue, crystalizing debates and conflicts concerning the question of long-term exposure to low-level radiations. Coming from the grey-zone surrounding the official evacuation zone, self-evacuees have been challenging the official narrative concerning radiation related risk assessment and management by evacuating without being invited to by the authorities.

After the accident, the government has used scientific tools to organize evacuation and compensations. The decision-making process has been influenced by an epidemiological approach to risk assessment, driven by the necessity to decide who is entitled to public support. Self-evacuees criticize and challenge this discourse through their own, individual risk perceptions, which are not based on statistics and quantified levels of hazard and risk, but on a personal, direct reflection on risks.

This research intends to shed light on the perception of risks in post-Fukushima Japan and how it has impacted family as an institution. It aims to show how different logics of appropriateness have appeared in the aftermath of the accident by asking the following question: Did differentiated risk perceptions, embedded in conflicting discourses, provoke a drift in the meaning of social roles within families affected by the nuclear accident, especially in the case of self-evacuees? The case of self-evacuees is compelling as it underlines the existence of challenging narratives and understandings in the aftermath of a major disaster.

Through semi-structured interviews, this project will highlight personal trajectories and experiences, in order to grasp the rationale behind evacuation. The goal is to understand how self-evacuees (re)construct appropriate behavior in an uncertain environment and how they face the national discourse on safety, and more generally recovery.

Relying on literature related to risk, disasters and family in Japan, analyzed through the lens of sociological and discursive institutionalism, I will try to present a sample of the large range of personal narratives in order to highlight, more broadly, the diverse consequences of a highly social disaster.