Catastrophe & Culture

by Hoffman, Susanna M.; Oliver-Smith, Anthony

• ISBN13: 9781930618152
• ISBN10: 1930618158
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: School for Advanced Research/Sar pr

Summary

At a time of increasing globalization and worldwide vulnerability, the study of disasters has become an important focus for anthropological research-one where the four fields of anthropology are synthesized to address the multidimensionality of the effects to a community's social structures and relationship to the environment. Using a variety of natural and technological disasters-including Mexican earthquakes, drought in the Andes and in Africa, the nuclearmeltdown at Chernobyl, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Oakland firestorm, and the Bhopal gas disaster-the authors of this volume explore the potentials of disaster for ecological, political-economic, and cultural approaches to anthropology along with the perspectives of archaeology and history. They also discuss the connection between theory and practice and what anthropology can do for disaster management.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	xi
Acknowledgments	xii
Map	2	(1)
Introduction: Why Anthropologists Should Study Disasters	3	(20)
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Susanna M. Hoffman
Theorizing Disasters: Nature, Power, and Culture	23	(26)
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Historical Disaster Research	49	(18)
Virginia Garcia-Acosta
Danger and the No-Risk Thesis	67	(24)
Robert Paine
Bounding Uncertainty: The post-Chernobyl Culture of Radiation Protection Experts	91	(22)
Sharon Stephens
The Monster and the Mother: The Symbolism of Disaster	113	(30)
Susanna M. Hoffman
Popular Media Reframing of Man-Made Disasters: A Cautionary Tale	143	(16)
Gregory V. Button
Punctuated Entropy as Culture-Induced Change: The Case of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill	159	(28)
Christopher L. Dyer
Modeling Protracted Drought, Collateral Natural Disaster, and Human Responses in the Andes	187	(26)
Michael E. Moseley
Impact of and Response to Drought among Turkana Pastoralists: Implications for Anthropological Theory and Hazards Research	213	(24)
J. Terrence McCabe
Missing Expertise, Categorical Politics, and Chronic Disasters: The Case of Bhopal	237	(24)
S.Ravi Rajan
References	261	(32)
Index	293