Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast

S1E20 - Season Wrap

October 14, 2019 10:00 - 47 minutes - 54.4 MB

Today we wrap up Season 1 of Disasters: Deconstructed! Thanks to everyone that has been a part of it - our listeners, our friends and family, and of course our brilliant guests. In this episode we revisit some of the key themes emerging from the Season, and discuss what we have in store for Season 2. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Join the Community over on Discord Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Music this week from "6 Feet Under" by John Isaac.

S1E19 - Status Quo

October 07, 2019 10:00 - 38 minutes - 44.3 MB

Back in June 2019, as part of the i-Rec conference, we recorded statements from participants in response to a prompt - What is the status quo that we need to disrupt, and how can we do it? The series of videos can be viewed here. This week we will be sharing some of the responses with you and briefly discussing the key themes. Please join us over on Discord if you want to unpack further! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! F...

S1E18 - Manifesto

September 30, 2019 10:00 - 55 minutes - 63.1 MB

This week Ksenia visits Auckland, New Zealand and sits down with some disaster researchers who were recently involved in drafting quite the provocative "Manifesto". Thanks to JC Gaillard, Loic Le De and Jake Rom Cadag for sharing about the importance of this document and related efforts in the past. The conversation centers on the unequal relationship between researchers based on insider/outsider, North/South, developed/developing divides. Tune in to hear about what is planned to move this...

S1E17 - Recovery

September 23, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutes - 41.5 MB

This week Daniel Aldrich and Wes Cheek join us to discuss what a successful disaster recovery looks like (or indeed if such a thing is possible), particularly in the context of Japan, where they have both worked extensively. Why is Japan held up as an exemplar for recovery? Does its technocratic approach work, and are we seeing the full picture? What is the role of social capital in determining recovery outcomes? Join us to hear about all this and more! Daniel P. Aldrich is a professor of...

S1E16 - The "Natural Disaster" Expression Part 2

September 16, 2019 10:00 - 33 minutes - 37.9 MB

This week we continue our discussion of the misnomer "natural disaster" and connect with the founder of the #NoNaturalDisasters Twitter campaign, Kevin Blanchard! Kevin is the Director of DRR Dynamics, a UK-based research organisation focused on ensuring the inclusion and empowerment of marginalised groups in the policy and practice of disaster risk reduction and humanitarian emergencies. He has undertaken extensive work developing inclusive DRR and humanitarian policy for national governm...

S1E15 - The "Natural Disaster" Expression Part 1

September 09, 2019 10:00 - 36 minutes - 41.5 MB

Today it's just us - your hosts Jason (@vonmeding) and Ksenia (@KsChmutina) - to talk about our 2 years of work investigating the expression "natural disaster" in academic literature. We reflect on our new paper, A Dilemma of Language: "Natural Disasters" in Academic Literature, and talk more broadly about the importance of language in influencing how people understand risk and how they behave towards it. Who is served by disasters being understood as natural? Is it actually harmful? ...

S1E14 - Empire

September 02, 2019 10:00 - 46 minutes - 53.7 MB

Disaster risk is created in many complex ways. Today we are so pleased to welcome Gonzalo Lizarralde to talk about how colonization not only historically created risk in so many ways, but how neoliberalism has in fact continued the work of building empire. It is a conversation you won't want to miss! Gonzalo is the Université de Montréal Fayolle-Magil Construction Research Chair in Architecture, the Built Environment and Sustainability. He is also the director of the IF Research Group (g...

S1E13 - Climate Change

August 26, 2019 10:00 - 31 minutes - 35.9 MB

This week Ilan Kelman joins us to talk about climate change and the link to disaster risk. Ilan is a Reader in Risk, Resilience and Global Health at UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction and UCL Institute for Global Health, UK, and a researcher at the University of Agder, Norway. We discuss whether climate change is to blame for disasters, and how we should talk about the issue. As is the case in many of our conversations so far, we discuss how disasters are not natural and why l...

S1E12 - Disaster Myths

August 19, 2019 10:00 - 32 minutes - 36.9 MB

This week we are joined by Dr Samantha Montano to talk about disaster myths. Samantha is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Management & Disaster Science at University of Nebraska Omaha. In this episode we discuss what it is to be a "disasterologist" and what kind of myths and other destructive disaster narratives that she has dealt with in her work across research, emergency management practice and grassroots community activism. Of course, the idea that disasters are "natural" features,...

S1E11 - Root Causes Part 2

August 12, 2019 10:00 - 29 minutes - 34.1 MB

In the second part of our discussion with Anthony Oliver-Smith, we discuss how society constructs risk using the example of Florida. He talks to us about his background as an anthropologist and how this field has become more critical in its study of disasters. We also discuss language, politics and the media in relation to root causes of disasters. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Further information: Tony's website links t...

S1E10 - Root Causes Part 1

August 05, 2019 10:00 - 30 minutes - 34.3 MB

Today we are delighted to be bringing you the first part of a conversation about "root causes" with Anthony Oliver-Smith. Tony is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida and has been a great inspiration to both of us. In this first part (of two) we discuss what root causes are and why it is so important to look beneath the symptoms, when we analyze disaster impacts. Tony gives us some wonderful examples from his expansive career that illustrate how disaster are anyt...

S1E9 - "Radical" Disaster Studies?

July 29, 2019 10:00 - 4 minutes - 37.3 MB

This week we spend some time around the table with Emmanuel Raju and Giuseppe Forino, our i-Rec Conference Co-Chairs, to discuss the field of disaster studies and whether any claim to being radical holds water! We discuss some of the barriers to critical scholarship and the reluctance of those with power to allow a discourse that is based on a rigorous critique of the status quo. We talk about the political-economic-social factors underpinning risk creation and the injustice of the systems...

S1E8 - Capacities Part 2

July 22, 2019 17:59 - 27 minutes - 30.9 MB

This is the second part of our discussion with Dr JC Gaillard about capacities. Please listen to the previous Episode (S1E7) first if you haven't yet! Today we dig deeper into the role of power in determining responsibility for vulnerability reduction or capacity enhancement. What about cultural contexts where we are outsiders? Can we presume to be acting ethically? Also, Jason has some spare time to monologue ;) Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple ...

S1E7 - Capacities Part 1

July 15, 2019 10:00 - 31 minutes - 35.7 MB

The knowledge, skills and resources that people can draw on and share to help deal with hazards and disasters - their capacities -must be central to any coherent strategy. Could it be smarter to put efforts into building capacities rather than reducing vulnerabilities? Today we talk to Dr JC Gaillard in the first of 2 episodes on capacity/capacities. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Further information: Anderson & Woodr...

S1E6 - "Disaster Ingredients" Series Part 3 : Exposure

July 08, 2019 10:00 - 29 minutes - 34.3 MB

In part 3 of "Disaster Ingredients" we are talking exposure with Ksenia's colleague Dr Lee Bosher from Loughborough University. Living in a location prone to disaster is not only something that is forced on the most marginalized. In many cases, those with the MOST resources in society choose to live in a place that will probably experience hazards. But, as we discuss with Lee, this does not mean that major disasters affect everyone the same way. Tune in for a really interesting chat! Loo...

S1E5 - "Disaster Ingredients" Series Part 2 : Vulnerability

July 01, 2019 18:17 - 33 minutes - 38.4 MB

Welcome to part 2 of "Disaster Ingredients"! Today we are discussing vulnerability with Dr Joanne Jordan from the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester in the UK. We talk about her efforts as an environmental social scientist working at the interface of climate change, poverty and complex notions of risk, mostly in Bangladesh. The vulnerability concept entails much more than a word synonymous with weakness - check out this episode to find out more!...

S1E4 - "Disaster Ingredients" Series Part 1 : Natural Hazards

June 24, 2019 10:00 - 34 minutes - 39 MB

Today we kick off a 3 part series that we call "Disaster Ingredients". Over the next few weeks we will explore the "risk triangle" of hazards x vulnerability x exposure. Helping us to explore natural hazards is Historical and Social Volcanologist Jazmin Scarlett, from the University of Hull in the UK. She recounts stories of societies living with hazards from her PhD field work, and we talk about the importance of risk communication and a deep understanding of social and political context....

S1E3 - i-Rec Conference LIVE

June 17, 2019 10:00 - 27 minutes - 31.2 MB

From June 5-8 2019 we (Jason and Ksenia) co-chaired an international conference, and took the chance to record Disasters: Deconstructed LIVE in a plenary session! In this Episode we talk to some young disaster scientists about how they got into this field, and about the challenges they face. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Further information: i-Rec 2019 - https://www.irec2019.org/ Our guests this week: Dr Sandeeka...

S1E2 - Are disasters ever natural?

June 10, 2019 10:00 - 26 minutes - 30.5 MB

This week we hear from some of our listeners, who are responding to the question "are disasters ever natural?" Not everyone agreed about the answer. Tune in to find out more, as Ksenia and Jason discuss the clips received and further set the context for Season 1. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! Further reading: Our article with Lee Bosher and JC Gaillard from 2017 https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/why-natural-disasters-a...

S1E1 - Introducing Disasters: Deconstructed

June 03, 2019 14:34 - 29 minutes - 34.2 MB

In this episode, hosts Ksenia Chmutina and Jason von Meding introduce the idea behind the podcast and set the scene for Season 1. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @DisastersDecon