Between Nuclear Tests and Rising Sea Levels

Abstract As Epeli Hau’ofa (1994) observes, the deterministic narratives that repeatedly portray Island States as small and vulnerable fail to reflect these communities’ own perceptions of their territorial space. Hau’ofa argues that such narratives do not represent an objective reality but are instead the legacy of a long colonial project that imposed artificial boundaries on peoples who traditionally viewed the ocean not as a frontier, but as an extension of their territory and identity. These deep and meaningful connections have historically been undermined—first by colonial and violent interventions and, more recently, by human-induced global environmental change. During the Cold War, the Marshall Islands became a testing ground for 67 thermonuclear weapons, an event that had devastating consequences: entire islands were vaporized, entire communities were permanently displaced, and the Marshallese people’s ancestral ties to their atolls were disrupted. By illustrating how colonialism and nuclear testing disrupted both the physical security of the Marshallese and their relationship with their natural environment, this article argues that contemporary climate threats endanger not only the territorial integrity of this sovereign low-lying state but, more profoundly, the ontological security of its inhabitants.