TE MOANA
The TE MOANA project aims to study the environmental consequences of the establishment and operation of the Pacific Experimentation Centre (1964-2000) on the ocean environment of French Polynesia, and to compare them with knowledge and representations of the ocean as a space of science, memory and struggle in the context of nuclear testing and its legacy. Using newly available archives and semi-structured interviews, participants will analyse in which areas and among which actors ocean pollution has led to the production of knowledge about the environment. They will then study how this knowledge has circulated at different levels and among these actors, and how it has shaped past and present representations of the ocean environment. To this end, a ‘more-than-human’ approach based on three specific topics (ciguatera, waste and fish) will renew the environmental approach to the history of the CEP and French Polynesia by comparing it with other nuclearised territories in the Pacific (Kiritimati and Japan). Such an approach also allows to go beyond the sole issue of the radiological impact of the tests. The results will be used to create teaching materials for students in French Polynesia and will be disseminated to the general public through various forms of mediation, in order to raise awareness of the diverse environmental consequences of nuclear testing.
Benjamin Furst holds a PhD in environmental history and works as an historian and a cartographer at CRESAT (UR 3436, Université de Haute-Alsace). He is currently working on environmental transformations in French Polynesia in the 20th century, particularly during the period of nuclear testing conducted by the Pacific Experimentation Centre. He contributes to the CNRS SOSI ‘Observatoire des héritages du CEP’ (Observatory of the CEP’s Legacy) led by Renaud Meltz and co-directs axis 2, which aims to analyse the social and environmental transformations in Polynesia generated by the CEP and the accompanying modernisation project for the territory. He is one of the editors of the Dictionnaire historique du CEP and co-edited Un Deuxième contact ? Histoire et mémoires du CEP (A Second Contact? History and Memories of the CEP (with R. Meltz et A. Vrignon, MSH-P ed., 2025).
Manatea Taiarui is a certified professor in history and geography and is a PhD student in contemporary history. Since 2022, he has been preparing a thesis at the University of French Polynesia on the Pacific Experimentation Centre and French nuclear testing from an international relations perspective. He is particularly interested in French nuclear imperialism in the Pacific, scientific experts, the links between politics, science and diplomacy surrounding the CEP, and the circulation of knowledge. He participates in the work of the SOSI ‘Observatory of the CEP's Legacy’. He is the winner of the 2025 Young Researcher Award from the Fondation des Treilles and has been a Young Auditor at the IHEDN since 2024. He is the author of several scientific articles on the history of the French army and nuclear testing.
