The Nature-Culture Distinction in Disaster Studies:The Recent Petition for Reform as an Opportunity for New Thinking?

This article constructively challenges the often cited distinction between the so-called hazard and vulnerability perspectives in disaster studies.In a context of increasingly intertwined,dense,and complex socioeco-logical dynamics,disaster scholars often hold onto an apparently untenable distinction between nature and culture,manifested as either a hazard or a vulnerability approach.This article maintains that the typically undesired approach(the hazard approach)is inherent to the preferred(vulnerability)perspective.The article builds on Oliver-Smith’s(2013)critique of the magnitude of requirements placed upon practitioners given the full implications of the vulnerability perspective.Although critical of the vulnerability perspective,this article does not fundamentally disagree with the validity of its claims.Instead,by drawing on the pragmatist philosophy of Rorty(1989)and by demonstrating the potential value of posthumanism for disaster studies,I wish to argue for greater pragmatism within disaster scholarship.The article considers the recent petition or manifesto for disaster studies(Gaillard et al.2019)for more inclusive disaster research as a potential opportunity to challenge the aforementioned nature-culture distinction in the field,as the petition signed by a number of disaster scholars outlines various concerns over the asymmetrical power relations between local and external researchers.These power relations have adverse consequences for the appropriateness of knowledge production in many contexts.I am primarily ISI Gideon van Riet Gideon.vanriet@nwu.ac.za 1 School for Government Studies,North-West University,Potchefstroom 2531,Northwest Province,South Africa concerned with the very local level of disaster occurrence,where posthumanism might be most valuable.

Data,Disasters,and Space-Time Entanglements

Disasters connected to natural hazards can at the same time be unfolding events,as well as structural phenomena with unequal disaster risk constructed over an extended timespan.Hence,in disaster studies,temporality and spatiality are central,yet often implicit,concepts employed to make sense of the disaster phenomena.In this article we explicitly focus on temporality and spatiality within qualitative disaster studies,particularly those containing ethnographic elements.We use Doreen Massey’s idea of space-time trajectories to analyze and illustrate how in qualitative disaster studies the trajectories of the disaster,research participants,and the researcher entangle in diverse ways.The focus is on how temporality and spatiality are present in the construction of data.The article is mainly conceptual,with illustrations drawn from empirical fieldwork on Valparaíso fire of 2014 in Chile.We interrogate how researchers’sensitivity to temporality and spatiality challenges the conventional notions and practices of“data”in qualitative disaster studies.The focus in this article is on disaster studies,but it also offers methodological insights to other social sciences that strive to conduct research in the era of“Anthropocene,”with all its shifts and changes,the root causes of which have built over a long time.

A review of post-incident studies for wildland-urban interface fires

Post-incident studies provide direct and valuable information to further the scientific understanding of Wildland-Urban Interface(WUI)fires.Most post-incident studies involve data collection in the field(i.e.a“research field deployment”).In this review,technical reports of post-incident studies for WUI fire and other natural disasters were analyzed and professionals directly involved in WUI fire research field deployments were interviewed.The goal of this review is to provide a resource for future WUI studies regarding the development of safe and effective fieldwork procedures,the collection and integration of accurate and relevant data,and the establishment of practical lessons learned.Three main stages of WUI fire post-incident studies are identified and described in detail.Data collection methodologies,data attributes,logistical practices and lessons-learned were compiled from various past studies and are presented here in the context of application to WUI fire.