Citation

Gaillard JC. Disasters 2019; 43 Suppl 1: S7-S17.

Affiliation

Associate Professor, School of Environment, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12323

PMID

30575089

Abstract

Disaster studies is faced with a fascinating anomaly: frequently it claims to be critical and innovative, as suggested by the so-called vulnerability paradigm that emerged more than 40 years ago, yet often it is perpetuating some of the core and problematic tenets of the hazard paradigm that we were asked to challenge initially. This paper interrogates why such an anomaly persists. In so doing, it employs Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony to unpack why disaster studies is still dominated by Western epistemologies and scholars that perpetuate an orientalist view of disasters. Ultimately, it suggests a research agenda for the 40 years to come, which builds on the importance of local researchers analysing local disasters using local epistemologies, especially in the non-Western world. Such subaltern disaster studies are to be fuelled by increasing consciousness of the need to resist the hegemony of Western scholarship and to relocate disaster studies within the realm of its original political agenda.

© 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Language: en

Keywords

disaster studies; epistemology; hegemony; orientalism; vulnerability