Snaring the nuclear Sun: Decolonial ecologies in Titaua Feu's Mutismes: E ‘Ore te Vavä

Abstract

A specter is haunting French Polynesia - the specter of nuclear colonialism. Communities affected by nuclear colonialism have reported feeling shame regarding their radiation-induced diseases and having difficulties putting their radiation-induced trauma into words. Yet these mental health issues have often been eclipsed in the public sphere by other urgent struggles, such as individuals’ personal fights with cancer and communities’ political fight for reparations. This article analyzes the mutism that has long surrounded nuclear colonialism in French Polynesia by focusing on the literature that has helped to break, weaponize, or otherwise transform silences.