Abstract

Contextualizing Disaster offers a comparative analysis of six recent "highly visible" disasters and several slow-burning, "hidden," crises that include typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, chemical spills, and the unfolding consequences of rising seas and climate change. The book argues that, while disasters are increasingly represented by the media as unique, exceptional, newsworthy events, it is a mistake to think of disasters as isolated or discrete occurrences. Rather, building on insights developed by political ecologists, this book makes a compelling argument for understanding disasters as transnational and global phenomena.

“Contextualizing Disaster, edited by Gregory V. Button and Mark Schuller, makes a significant contribution to a better understanding of the social construction of disasters by contextualizing them in novel and diverse ways… The eight book chapters offer new and innovative analysis of recent disasters that to varying degrees are all translocal, and each chapter is carried by its own “narrative.”… The book is providing fresh impetus not only for disaster scholars but also for DRR institutions and media.” • Anthropos

“This book presents a vivid picture of extreme events and how different parties involved in the recovery process contextualize them.” • Arthur D. Murphy, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

“This book will be read and read again. I intend to use it in my course, 'Disaster, Self, and Society,' and I suspect others, both sociologists and anthropologists, will assign it to their respective classes. Moreover, it will be read by scholars, enriching their understanding of mayhem. Well done.” • Steve Kroll-Smith, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Mark Schuller is Associate Professor of Anthropology and NGO Leadership and Development at Northern Illinois University and affiliate at the State University of Haiti. Supported by the National Science Foundation Senior and CAREER Grant, Bellagio Center, and others, Schuller’s research is published in thirty scholarly articles. He authored or co-edited seven books and co-directed/co-produced documentary Poto Mitan. Recipient of the Margaret Mead Award, he has a column in Huffington Post and is active as a board member and solidarity activist.

Gregory V. Button is an internationally recognized disaster researcher and a former faculty member at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, as well as a former faculty member of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he was Co-Director of the Disasters, Displacement and Human Rights. A Former U.S Senate Congressional Fellow he has published dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters. His work has been featured in many major media outlets. He is a regular contributor to public radio stations and a frequent writer for Counterpunch.