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How to make the politics of toxicity visible so as to create radical socio-ecological changes? How to unpack the relation between toxic politics and toxicity as an environmental and human health problem? Though the relation between politics and toxicity appears to be clear in a way that human-centered, growth-based and unjust politics and policies remain to be the main cause of toxicity, this project draws attention to a much more complex relation that can be rendered visible through multi-sited ethnographic approach.

My focus is on the parts of Fukushima Prefecture affected by the nuclear disaster which began in March 2011. Many towns and villages in Fukushima remain contaminated by radioactive caesium 134 and 137 released in the triple disaster. The authorities have spent the last nine years attempting to decontaminate the affected landscape.

The city of Pasadena is debating a new mixed-use development to be built on the site of a former Naval Research Annex used to test missiles, torpedos and classified weapons. On one side, developers and a majority of the City Council contend that this development will help the city address the need for more affordable housing. On the other, community activists led, in part, by Dr.