The Lawfare Podcast Chatter: Oceania's Nuclear and Climate Storytelling with Anaïs Maurer
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May 28, 2024 
Anaïs Maurer, literature professor and author of The Ocean on Fire, discusses the impact of colonial nuclear detonations in Oceania, climate change narratives, cultural resilience, and storytelling in the face of environmental challenges. Topics include French nuclear testing in the Pacific, indigenous women's leadership, symbolism of coconuts in literature, and anti-nuclear activism in Oceania.
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Growing Up Inside Nuclear Colonialism
- Anaïs Maurer describes growing up in Tahiti as part of a family shaped by French imperialism and nuclear colonialism.
- She explains nuclear testing was a taboo topic in family and national circles despite deep economic and health ties.
Language Changes How We See Nuclear Harm
- Maurer reframes 'nuclear tests' as 'nuclear detonations' to reflect real destructive power and avoid antiseptic language.
- She quantifies the scale: the Pacific detonations equaled Hiroshima every day for half a century, creating an apocalypse-level destruction.
Songs Named The Bomb A Demon In 1945
- Maurer recounts early Pacific anti-nuclear songs dating to 1945 that framed the bomb as a demon and relayed Hiroshima's horror.
- She highlights Uliya Mofutuna (Wallis and Futuna) singers who politicized the bomb immediately after WWII.