Contextualizing disaster

The goal of this book is to gain a greater understanding of disasters by contextualizing them in hopefully new and different ways by paying close attention to two decisive factors: narration and globalization, which on various levels are two reoccurring themes throughout the volume. Given their graphic and often horrifi c natures, events traditionally labeled as disasters capture everyone’s imagination including journalists, politicians, humanitarians, policy-makers, academicians, and the public. How these events are perceived and contextualized plays a decisive role in not only how we respond to calamity, but also how we envision calamity prevention.

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.