The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective

by Oliver-Smith,Anthony

• ISBN13: 9780415919876
• ISBN10: 0415919878
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-10-11
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

From hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes to oil spills and nuclear accidents, natural and technological disasters have become increasingly frequent and destructive across the planet. This ground-breaking collection of essays explores how various cultures in different historical moments have responded to calamity, offering new insights into the complex relationship between society and environment. Through case studies of communities in Great Britain, the Mediterranean, Asia and the Americas, contributors examine issues ranging from the social and political factors that set the stage for disaster, to the cultural processes experienced by survivors, to the long-term impact of disasters on culture and society.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Anthropology and the Angry Earth: An Overview	p. 1
Disasters, Environment, and Culture	p. 17
"What Is a Disaster?": Anthropological Perspectives on a Persistent Question	p. 18
Environmental Pattern, Hazards, and Culture: The Archaeological Perspective	p. 35
The Effects of Explosive Volcanism on Ancient Egalitarian, Ranked, and Stratified Societies in Middle America	p. 36
Convergent Catastrophe: Past Patterns and Future Implications of Collateral Natural Disasters in the Andes	p. 59
The Cultural and Social Construction of Catastrophe	p. 73
Peru's Five-Hundred-Year Earthquake: Vulnerability in Historical Context	p. 74
Constructing Vulnerability in the First World: The Northridge Earthquake in Southern California, 1994	p. 89
The Negation of Disaster: The Media Response to Oil Spills in Great Britain	p. 113
Varieties of Cultural Response	p. 133
The Worst of Times, the Best of Times: Toward a Model of Cultural Response to Disaster	p. 134
The Brotherhood of Pain: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Post-Disaster Solidarity	p. 156
The Regenesis of Traditional Gender Patterns in the Wake of Disaster	p. 173
Vulnerability, Disaster, and Survival in Bangladesh: Three Case Studies	p. 192
"Tell Them We're Hurting": Hurricane Andrew, the Culture of Response, and the Fishing Peoples of South Florida and Louisiana	p. 213
Agencies, Survivors, and Reconstruction	p. 233
Plan and Pattern in Reaction to Earthquake: Peru, 1970-1998	p. 234
Bhopal: Vulnerability, Routinization, and the Chronic Disaster	p. 257
The Phoenix Effect in Post-Disaster Recovery: An Analysis of the Economic Development Administration's Culture of Response after Hurricane Andrew	p. 278
Disaster and Cultural Continuity	p. 301
After Atlas Shrugs: Cultural Change or Persistence after a Disaster	p. 302
Index	p. 327
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