RAPID: Changing perceptions of causes and consequences in the immediate aftermath of a disaster

Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale IL

Investigators

Abstract

The research supported by this award will investigate how perceptions of a disaster are formulated in the immediate aftermath of the event. The researchers will investigate the proposition that social and economic position affects understanding of the disaster and thereby produces variable goals and plans for disaster mitigation and post-disaster reconstruction. Previous research has shown that disasters can reveal strengths and weaknesses in the behaviors influenced by social and cultural factors. In this project, the researchers explore how those revelations are produced in the immediate aftermath of making sense of what has happened and how they vary across different stakeholders. Findings will be disseminated to organizations that explore and manage the causes, consequences, and complexities of disaster management and recovery. Funding this research also trains students from underrepresented groups in social science research. This RAPID award supports the collection of data in Houston using anthropological ethnographic methods. The researchers will conduct saturated interviewing of city officials involved in land use planning, disaster reduction, disaster response, and disaster recovery. A stratified (by socio-economic, racial, and other variables) sample of community leaders will be researched through participant observation and interviews. The objective is to document how perceptions vary, how they develop over time, and how they affect the eventual mitigation and prevention plans that are produced. The research will produce a baseline ethnographic map (an ethnographic narrative that connects the social production of space with the social production of social difference and disaster vulnerability) of Houston that identifies city residents' varied problematizations of the disaster. This will provide a database baseline for future research and for stakeholders.