Cold War Civil Defence in Western Europe

This open access edited collection brings together established and new perspectives on Cold War civil defence in Western Europe within a common analytical framework that also facilitates comparative and transnational dimensions. The current interest in creating disaster-resilient societies demands new histories of civil defence. Historical contextualization is essential in order to understand what is at stake in preparing, devising, and implementing forms of preparedness, protection, and security that are specifically targeted at societies and citizens. Applying the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries to civil defence history, the chapters of this volume cover a range of new themes, from technology and materiality to media, memory, and everyday experience. The book underlines the social embeddedness of civil defence by detailing how it both prompted new forms of social interaction and reflected norms and visions of the 'good society' in an age where nuclear technology seemedto hold the key to both doom and salvation.

Argues for the importance of historical perspectives in contemporary civil defence planning Brings together established and new perspectives on the history of civil defence in Europe Covers themes such as technology, materiality, media, memory and everyday experience This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Autorentext

Marie Cronqvist is a Reader and Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media History in the Department of Communication and Media at Lund University, Sweden. Her research is focused on Cold War media, civil defence culture and transnational broadcasting.

Rosanna Farbøl is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research is focused on Cold War civil defence, and she has specialized in the connection between materiality, imaginaries and culture, and comparative studies of urban civil defence strategies in Denmark and Europe.

Casper Sylvest is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Southern Denmark. His research is focused on nuclear politics and culture during the Cold War. He currently directs a research project on Danish Civil Defence during the Cold War.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: New paths in civil defence history- Marie Cronqvist, Rosanna Farbøl and Casper Sylvest.- 2. Order on their home fronts: Imagining war and social control in 1950s NATO- Iben Bjørnsson.- 3. The imagined disastrous: West German civil defence between war preparation and emergency management 19501990- Jochen Molitor.- 4. Normalising nuclear war: Narrative scenarios, imaginative geographies and sites of leisure in 1950s Britain- Jonathan Hogg.- 5. Embedding preparedness, assigning responsibility: The role of film in sociotechnical imaginaries of civil defence- Peter Bennesved and Casper Sylvest.- 6. 'The world is her home': The role of women volunteers in Dutch civil defence in the 1950s and 1960s - Dick van Lente.- 7. Ruins of resilience: Imaginaries and materiality imagineered and embedded in civil defence architecture- Rosanna Farbøl.- 8. Framing civil defence critique: Swiss physicians' resistance to the Coordinated Medical Services in the 1980s- Sibylle Marti.- 9. Remembering desirable futures? Civil defence memories and everyday life in Sweden and the United Kingdom- Marie Cronqvist and Matthew Grant.- 10. Conclusion: Civil defence futures (re)imagined- Marie Cronqvist, Rosanna Farbøl and Casper Sylvest.