Post-Viewing

Source Material: Voices From Chernobyl

Read the prologue from Voices From Chernobyl, an oral history by Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This interview was the source material for Lyudmilla's story in the mini-series. Consider:

  • How do you experience the story differently in this format as opposed to film?

  • Can oral history count as "literature?" What specific elements of this interview would make it "literary?"

Source Material: Accuracy and Agenda in the Making of Chernobyl

Watch the following three video clips -- 1) an interview with a plant operator and liquidator who was present for the explosion and the aftermath, 2) an interview with a doctor who treated patients for radiation exposure, and 3) a comparison of the shots in the mini-series with real footage of the disaster.

Questions to Consider:

  • Some of these sources contradict the story told in the mini-series and in Voices from Chernobyl. How can we reconcile different accounts of the truth?

  • What is the relationship between storytelling and truth? What considerations are important in telling a truthful story?

  • To what extent could Chernobyl be considered propaganda itself? (Consider this article on the Russian response to the show.)

Consider Disinformation in Our World Today

Begin by reading this article from FactCheck.org on how to spot fake news.

Then play one of these three games to test your own ability to navigate the landscape of disinformation:

  • Factitious 2020 -- test your ability to discern real and fake news about the COVID epidemic

  • Bad News -- learn about how false and misleading tweets are constructed

  • Fake It To Make It -- test your hand at creating a fake news empire

Journal Response

In January of 2021, Russian police raided the home of Anastasia Vasilyeva, a doctor and an anti-Putin dissident. She insisted on playing the piano as they searched her home and prepared to arrest her. What do you think of her act of defiance? How might it be connected to the stories of resistance that we saw in Chernobyl?

Summative Assessment: Synthesizing Global Issues

Compose a 500-word response to one of the following stimuli:

  • Compare and contrast the Soviet reaction to the Chernobyl disaster to the Chinese and U.S. response to COVID.

  • Compare and contrast the Soviet reaction to the Chernobyl disaster to the 2021 power failures in Texas.

  • Consider the extent to which it is important to uncover the truth of a disaster or atrocity to be able to move beyond it (you might look at South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process or the controversy surrounding the 1619 Project in the United States).