Presented by: Evan Perreault
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Presented by: Evan Perreault
The Billboard Campaign:The Los Alamos Study Group
And the Nuclear Public SphereAuthor: Joseph Masco
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
• Currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences at the University Chicago
• B.A. in Comparative History of Ideas from University of Washington in 1986
• M.A./Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of California at San Diego in 1991 and 1999 respectively
• Held a professorship of Anthropology at the University of Oregon
Joseph Masco
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
Background
• New Mexico is home to:
• more than 2,500 nuclear warheads
• Two of the nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories
• World’s ONLY underground dump of radioactive bomb waste
• Ranks 43rd in the US on income per capita
• Highest rate of working poor/least amount of benefits
• Most Americans have little/no knowledge of continued investments in WMD by the United States
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
The Los Alamos Study Group (LASG)
• A nonproliferation and peace activism group that was formed at the end of the Cold War
• Based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Speak out against nuclear weapon consolidation
• Initiated many campaigns, including the Billboard Campaign
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
Aims
• Masco’s:
• Make the “invisible” visible
• Nuclear Disarmament
• Environmental Protection
• Economic Sustainability
• Social Justice
• Los Alamos Study Group’s:
• Seek to change public policy and prevent implementation of bad policies.
• Promote public education on hazards of the nuclear complex
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
Target Groups
• General public of New Mexico
• Increase awareness of nuclear presence and dangers
• The tourist demographic
• Tell travelers the truth behind this “pristine” landscape
• Large catholic populations in Northern New Mexico
• Provoke conflicting moral situations on the topic of producing weapons of mass destruction
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
• From 1940-1996, the US has spent at least $5.8 trillion on nuclear weapons, making them the third largest expenditure after nonnuclear military and Social Security spending.
• In 2011, the US Government spent $964.8 billions dollars on National Defense
• http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/defense_budget_2012_3.html
Militarism in the US
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
Impacts• New Mexico is part of a rural
American economic space that relies on the Four P’s
• Plutonium
• Poker
• Prison
• Pigs
• Exposed the links between global and local economies
• Provoke consideration of the spheres that the nuclear project act within
Further Research• Compile data on political
figureheads and elected representatives
• Evaluate public movements regarding the reallocation of federal expenditures within the Dept. of Energy
• Studies (surveys) that evaluate the knowledge of the general public in and out of New Mexico on the nuclear complex
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
Conclusion
• Complex nuclear weapons infrastructure
• Immense continued investment into nuclear research and development
• Rising militarism needs to be answered for
• New Mexico is “held hostage” by Washington
• The LASG has effectively turned a purely capitalist and quiet space into a space of political mobilization and citizen critique.
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
References• Masco, Joseph. "The Billboard Campaign: The Los Alamos Study Group and the Nuclear
Public Sphere." Public Culture 17.3 (2005): 487-98. Print.
• http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty_member/joseph_p._masco
• Los Alamos Study Group. "LASG Home Page." LASG Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2012. <http://www.lasg.org/>.
• http://ninohasstories.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/coinci.jpg?w=462
• "Department of Anthropology." Joseph P. Masco. University of Chicago, 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty_member/joseph_p._masco>.
• http://www.nukewatch.org/facts/nwd/SimpleFacts043104.pdf
• http://bber.unm.edu/econ/sttpipci.htm
THE BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN: THE LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP AND THE NUCLEAR PUBLIC SPHERE
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