Narratives of Peace and Progress: Atomic Museums in Japan and New Mexico

Cultural narratives of nuclear history diverge sharply between Japan and the United States, revealing contrasting memories of progress and loss. A 1991 collage by Japanese-American artist Patrick Nagatani juxtaposes scientific exhibits from New Mexico's Bradbury Science Museum with haunting imagery of Hiroshima's atomic bomb victims—ghostly children and glass jars containing bodily remains—to highlight these differences. The study analyzes the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Bradbury Science Museum, demonstrating how sites of memory can both foster group healing and expose deep cultural divides tied to trauma. This work underscores how public remembrance shapes national identity, blending scientific achievement with human suffering in complex and often conflicting ways.

Fields, A. (2015). Narratives of Peace and Progress: Atomic Museums in Japan and New Mexico. American Studies, 54(1), 53–66. https://doi.org/10.1353/ams.2015.0037