Marshall Isands And Atomic Bomb
...the largest nuclear war head ever tested by the United States government was set off to the north of her. Bravo (the bombs code name) was 1,000 times more powerful then the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Marshallese Islanders environment, health, subsistence, family traditions, rituals, religious practices, and following generations were all greatly impaired from Bravo’s blast. The following discuses these effects as well as U.S. interpretations of “exposed” victims as opposed to “unexposed” victims. There are also comparisons to the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the U.S. radioactive homeland.
To understand why so much of the Marshallese Islanders aspects of life were affected you have to understand the Marshallese social structure as it relates to their holistic view of land. There are three different tiers to society each with distinct land and resource rights. The first was the Iroij who were the chiefs of the land. The Iroji took care of his/her people in exchange for the people bringing the Iroij food and maintaining the land. The second was the Alap who were the managers of the land. They made sure all the workers were doing their part to maintain the land, and then reported land conditions back to the Iroij. Third was the ri-jerbal who were the workers who hunted, gathered, and maintained the land. The workers looked at the land holistically knowing not to deplete the land of its resources for future generations. Land is not just a place to live and grow food it is the essence of life. It’s the most valued commodity; life, culture and self-identity came from the land to the islanders. Before the religious syncretism of Christianity diffused into the Marshallese culture in the 1940’s they had an indigenous religion where land was known as a living thing apart of their soul. If a Marshallese lost his/her land it was the equal to suicide....
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