Ashby Dialogue, Part 3

Our third Ashby meeting was held this past Monday (March 24). The theme for this meeting was disasters, in particular the adaptations of contemporary humans populations to disasters, and was mediated by UNCG's Eric Jones and Art Murphy from Anthropology and Steve Kroll-Smith from Sociology. Another interesting discussion with great student participation. We started off with a veiwing of Trouble the Water, a documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the more salient points that arose:

• Steve argued that the term "natural disaster" is actually a misnomer: including the word "natural," he said, actually furnishes nature with far too much agency and, in doing so, makes culture and human organization less culpable. In other words, and to quote Anthony Oliver-Smith (1994: 74):

...that is, disasters [are] interpreted less as the result of geophysical extremes such as storms, earthquakes, avalanches, droughts, etc., and much more as functions of an ongoing social order, the structure of human environment relations, and the larger framework of historical processes that shaped these phenomena.

Disasters are seen to be far more characteristic of societies than they are of simple physical environments.

• Disasters can also provide an incisive window into capitalist relationships. While it is of course important to make sure that relief makes it to people after a crisis, it is interesting to see which organizations are awarded contracts to do so; oftentimes they have ties to important government personnel or their close friends. 
• Eric Jones made the important point that, in terms of human social adaptation, there is a big difference between expecting a disaster and being prepared for one. One criticism that is often floated around after a disaster is "well, why didn't these people leave the area?" As Eric pointed out, there are several reasons, including (1) a lack of family or friends outside of the area that would facilitate a move; (2) a lack of transportation (public or personal); and, even if the former two are present, (3) fear of theft in peoples' absence. This highlights the fact that an important component of human adaptation to disaster is rooted in social relationships, or, as Eric's research refers to it, social networks.
• In a similar vein, Art made the distinction between preparedness and recovery, arguing further that race and class effects seem to be much stronger in the latter. The structure of social organization (i.e., how we determine the haves versus the have-nots) determines how recovery proceeds. This in turn tends to put certain types of people (usually poorer folks) into more susceptible positions.
• One of our best students, Jessica Haynes, brought up the issue of indigenous knowledge and how it is often ignored at our own peril. Art mentioned that drought conditions in California may eventually cause growers to move their operations to states with climates more conducive to particular crops. Jessica saw this as a case in point−why not grow indigenous plants that are adapted to their respective environments?

This was, overall, another really successful get-together, and we're looking forward to our last session, which will look at human adaptation from the perspective of interior architecture...

References:

Oliver-Smith, A (1995).Peru's five-hundred-year earthquake: vulnerability in historical context. In (Varley, A Ed) Disaster, Development and Environment, pp. 74-88.