著者

内田 綾子 Uchida Ayako

出版者

名古屋大学人文学研究科

雑誌

名古屋大学人文学研究論集 (ISSN:2433233X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, pp.251-269, 2020-03-31

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In the American Southwest, uranium development was promoted after World War II. This essay explores the historical background of uranium development in the Navajo reservation from the 1940s to the 1970s in relation to American nuclear policy. After the devastating stock reduction by the federal government in the 1930s, Navajo men sought work away from the reservation on railroads and farms to meet the economic gap. During the 1940s and 1950s the federal government accelerated uranium mining and milling in the Southwest for military and commercial use. It was during this period that many Navajos started to work as uranium miners on the reservation. However, the federal government and companies failed to explain to them in advance the dangers of uranium mining. The working conditions in the mines and mills caused serious damage to their health through radiation. Later many Navajo miners died after suffering from lung cancer and other diseases. The abandoned mines after the uranium boom also contibuted to environmental damage in the reservation. By examining the relations between Native Americans and U.S. nuclear policy this essay considers the problems of uranium mining during the Cold War era.