Changing Disasters: Taking the next disaster out of disaster research

Isak Winkel Holm; Kristian Cedervall Lauta

Changing Disasters: Taking the next disaster out of disaster research

Isak Winkel Holm, Kristian Cedervall Lauta

Abstract

During the last five to ten years, a considerable body of research has begun to explore how disasters catalyse social change. Even if the contributions to this research stem from a multitude of academic disciplines, we argue in the article, they constitute an identifiable and promising research agenda. Whereas vulnerability analysis explores the upstream causes of disaster, this new agenda focuses on the downstream consequences. In the genre of the meta-article, we suggest that this research agenda can by organized by help of the theoretical metaphors it uses. The overall metaphor—“disasters are catalyst”—can be subdivided into three different images of how disasters catalyse, respectively: “disasters are lessons,” “disasters are occasions,” and “disasters are perspectives.” By discussing three recent contributions (by the political scientist Thomas Birkland, the anthropologist Edward Simpson, and the cultural-political geographer Ben Anderson), we hope to inspire fellow researchers to pursue this emerging research agenda.

Original language	English
Journal	Disasters. The Journal of Disaster Studies, Policy and Management
ISSN	0361-3666
Publication status	Submitted - 24 Jun 2019

Keywords

Faculty of Social Sciences

Cite this

@article{53fdb2e1b71a45759b62ee03f6a24a6c,

title = "Changing Disasters: Taking the next disaster out of disaster research",

abstract = "During the last five to ten years, a considerable body of research has begun to explore how disasters catalyse social change. Even if the contributions to this research stem from a multitude of academic disciplines, we argue in the article, they constitute an identifiable and promising research agenda. Whereas vulnerability analysis explores the upstream causes of disaster, this new agenda focuses on the downstream consequences. In the genre of the meta-article, we suggest that this research agenda can by organized by help of the theoretical metaphors it uses. The overall metaphor—“disasters are catalyst”—can be subdivided into three different images of how disasters catalyse, respectively: “disasters are lessons,” “disasters are occasions,” and “disasters are perspectives.” By discussing three recent contributions (by the political scientist Thomas Birkland, the anthropologist Edward Simpson, and the cultural-political geographer Ben Anderson), we hope to inspire fellow researchers to pursue this emerging research agenda.",

keywords = "Faculty of Social Sciences, Vulnerability, disaster risk reduction, Social theory",

author = "Holm, {Isak Winkel} and Lauta, {Kristian Cedervall}",

year = "2019",

month = jun,

day = "24",

language = "English",

journal = "Disasters",

issn = "0361-3666",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Changing Disasters

T2 - Taking the next disaster out of disaster research

AU - Holm, Isak Winkel

AU - Lauta, Kristian Cedervall

PY - 2019/6/24

Y1 - 2019/6/24

N2 - During the last five to ten years, a considerable body of research has begun to explore how disasters catalyse social change. Even if the contributions to this research stem from a multitude of academic disciplines, we argue in the article, they constitute an identifiable and promising research agenda. Whereas vulnerability analysis explores the upstream causes of disaster, this new agenda focuses on the downstream consequences. In the genre of the meta-article, we suggest that this research agenda can by organized by help of the theoretical metaphors it uses. The overall metaphor—“disasters are catalyst”—can be subdivided into three different images of how disasters catalyse, respectively: “disasters are lessons,” “disasters are occasions,” and “disasters are perspectives.” By discussing three recent contributions (by the political scientist Thomas Birkland, the anthropologist Edward Simpson, and the cultural-political geographer Ben Anderson), we hope to inspire fellow researchers to pursue this emerging research agenda.

AB - During the last five to ten years, a considerable body of research has begun to explore how disasters catalyse social change. Even if the contributions to this research stem from a multitude of academic disciplines, we argue in the article, they constitute an identifiable and promising research agenda. Whereas vulnerability analysis explores the upstream causes of disaster, this new agenda focuses on the downstream consequences. In the genre of the meta-article, we suggest that this research agenda can by organized by help of the theoretical metaphors it uses. The overall metaphor—“disasters are catalyst”—can be subdivided into three different images of how disasters catalyse, respectively: “disasters are lessons,” “disasters are occasions,” and “disasters are perspectives.” By discussing three recent contributions (by the political scientist Thomas Birkland, the anthropologist Edward Simpson, and the cultural-political geographer Ben Anderson), we hope to inspire fellow researchers to pursue this emerging research agenda.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Vulnerability

KW - disaster risk reduction

KW - Social theory

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0361-3666

JO - Disasters

JF - Disasters

ER -