Disaster Environments: Human/Non-Human Entanglements in the Wake of Catastrophe

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The oft repeated adage in political ecology, “there is no natural disaster,” while well met, draws attention away from the biophysical world and into the political. In this panel session, we seek to bring material, non-human forces back into view, in the context of the long tail of disaster in Eurasia. Disaster (broadly construed) is a concept that relies on a continuity-breaking event, thus implying a Rubicon crossed into new worlds, and all the loss, resilience, and potential implied therein. In this session, we approach “natural” disaster, war, and post-industrial decay as catastrophes that leave lasting residues and new spaces of contention, thus requiring novel frames to analyze them.

Sub Unit

• Geography, Urban Studies, Built Environments

Chair

• Evangeline McGlynn, Harvard U

Papers

• Reclaiming the Empire's Relics: Scrap Metal Collection as Emergent Labour in the Aftermath of Post-Soviet Infrastructure - Esma Berikishvili, Ilia State U (Georgia)

• 'Dangerous Waters': Emotional Ecologies of Dampness and Displacement in Georgia - Ariel Otruba, Virginia Tech

• Temporary Logic: Precaution, Landscape, and Suspected Hazardous Areas - Ruth Trumble, Hofstra U

• The Ghosts of Buildings: Dust as a Lingering Earthquake - Evangeline McGlynn, Harvard U

Discussant

• Jesse Swann-Quinn, Allegheny College