The Political Economy of Hazards and Disasters (Society for Economic Anthropology (Sea) Monographs)

367 Pages·2009·1.72 MB·English

by  Eric C. Jones

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ANTHROPOLOGY • ECONOMICS MJ
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SOCIETY FOR ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY MONOGRAPHS, VOLUME 27 un
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“This book engages the reader by providing two novel perspectives on disaster response tailored h a
to an anthropological audience. First, the chapters present a broad perspective on the culture of ynd
response as seen through the lenses of diverse case studies based on archaeological, biological, cul-
tural anthropological, and even linguistic data. The chapters also go beyond a consideration of eco- THE POLITICAL
nomic and political factors in the analysis of disaster responses by documenting the impacts of dis-
asters on the daily lives of ordinary persons.” —Richard Blanton, Purdue University
“I enjoyed this analytical collection of disaster studies and am impressed by its uniform excellence
ECONOMY OF
and many contributions to this ripening field of research. Disasters fill the daily news, crying out
for explanation and action. Eric C. Jones, Arthur D. Murphy, and their collaborators analyze a
superbly representative collection of disaster experiences from the Americas and elsewhere. The
‘culture of response’ is revealed through provocative theoretical analysis and close examination of
the facts on the ground to highlight the commonality of themes that characterize the ways in O HAZARDS AND
which people deal with disasters, whatever their cause. The book’s depth of theoretical under-
F
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standing coupled with numerous lessons for those who would mitigate the impacts of calamities is
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an outstanding collective achievement rarely found in edited volumes. This fascinating and H
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instructive set of cases from the archaeological past to contemporary catastrophes is enlightening A
DISASTERS
in every respect.” —Paul L. Doughty, Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus, ZP
University of Florida A
O
R
L
Throughout history, societies have had to decide whom to “sacrifice” and whom to help in times DI
of disaster. This volume examines how elite groups attempt to maintain power through the use of ST
particular economic, political, and ideological instruments and how both ruling elites and common IC
people endeavor to create meaningful traditions while enduring hardship. The Political Economy A
of Hazards and Disastersdemonstrates how vulnerability is economically constructed, how primary NA
L
producers adapt their production regimes, how traders and merchants adapt their practices, and D

how political economic objectives play out in recovery efforts. E
D
C
CONTRIBUTORS I
SO
MARGARET L. BROWN STEVE KROLL-SMITH ALAN SMART AN
SHELLY BROWN-JEFFY CHAPURUKHA M. KUSIMBA JOSEPHINE SMART
SO
CHRISTOPHER L. DYER TY MATEJOWSKY GRAHAM A. TOBIN
TM
TIMOTHY J. FINAN ARTHUR D. MURPHY JENNIFER TRIVEDI
E
VISHWAS D. GOGTE DONALD R. NELSON MEGAN UNDERHILL Y
R
OLAF JAIME-RIVERÓN RAHUL OKA LINDA M. WHITEFORD
S
ERIC C. JONES ANTHONY OLIVER-SMITH LESLIE LEA WILLIAMS
CHRISTOPHER POOL
Edited by
About the Editors
Eric C. Jonesis research scientist in the department of anthropology at the University of North
Eric C. Jones
Carolina at Greensboro. and
Arthur D. Murphy is professor in the department of anthropology at the University of North
Carolina at Greensboro. Arthur D. Murphy
For orders and information please contact the publisher
A Division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
1-800-462-6420
www.altamirapress.com
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF HAZARDS AND
DISASTERS
SOCIETY FOR ECONOMIC
ANTHROPOLOGY (SEA) MONOGRAPHS
Dolores Koenig, American University
General Editor, Society for Economic Anthropology
Monographs for the Society for Economic Anthropology contain original
essays that explore the connections between economics and social life.
Each year’s volume focuses on a different theme in economic anthropol-
ogy. Earlier volumes were published with the University Press of America,
Inc. (#1–15, 17), Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (#16). The
monographs are now published jointly by AltaMira Press and the Society
for Economic Anthropology (http://sea.org.ohio-state.edu).
No. 18 J ean Ensminger, ed., Theory in Economic Anthropology
No. 19 J effrey H. Cohen and Norbert Dannhaeuser, eds., Economic De-
velopment: An Anthropological Approach
No. 20 G racia Clark, ed., Gender at Work in Economic Life
No. 21 C ynthia Werner and Duran Bell, eds., Values and Valuables: From
the Sacred to the Symbolic
No. 22 L illian Trager, ed., Migration and Economy: Global and Local Dy-
namics
No. 23 E . Paul Durrenberger and Judith Martí, eds., Labor in Cross-
Cultural Perspective
No. 24 R ichard Wilk, ed., Fast Food/Slow Food
No. 25 L isa Cliggett and Christopher A. Pool, eds., Economies and the
Transformation of Landscape
No. 26 K atherine E. Browne and B. Lynne Milgram, eds., Economics and
Morality: Anthropological Approaches
No. 27 E ric C. Jones and Arthur D. Murphy, eds., The Political Economy
of Hazards and Disasters
To find more books in this series, go to www.altamirapress.com/series.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF HAZARDS AND
DISASTERS
EDITED BY
ERIC C. JONES AND
ARTHUR D. MURPHY
ALTAMIRA PRESS
A Division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Lanham (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
AltaMira Press
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
Lanham, MD 20706
www.altamirapress.com
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Copyright © 2009 by Society for Economic Anthropology
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The political economy of hazards and disasters / edited by Eric C. Jones and Arthur D.
Murphy.
p. cm. — (Society for economic anthropology (SEA) monographs ; No. 27)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7591-1309-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7591-1309-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7591-1311-4 (electronic)
ISBN-10: 0-7591-1311-4 (electronic)
1. Disasters—Case studies. 2. Disasters—Economic aspects. 3. Emergency
management. I. Jones, Eric C., 1970– II. Murphy, Arthur D.
HV553.P63 2009
363.34—dc22 2008045392
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xiii
Part I: Economic Parameters of Disasters
CHAPTER 1
Linking Broad-Scale Political Economic Contexts to Fine-Scale
Economic Consequences in Disaster Research ERIC C. JONES AND
ARTHUR D. MURPHY 3
CHAPTER 2
Anthropology and the Political Economy of Disasters
ANTHONY OLIVER-SMITH 11
Part II: Class-Based Vulnerability in Disaster Exposure,
Impact, and Recovery
CHAPTER 3
“The Dam is Becoming Dangerous and May Possibly Go”:
The Paleodemography and Political Economy of the Johnstown
Flood of 1889 LESLIE LEA WILLIAMS 31
v
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER 4
The Invisible Toll of Katrina: How Social and Economic Resources
are Altering the Recovery Experience among Katrina Evacuees in
Colorado MEGAN UNDERHILL 59
CHAPTER 5
Recovering Inequality: Democracy, the Market Economy, and the
1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire SHELLY BROWN-JEFFY AND
STEVE KROLL-SMITH 83
Part III: The Line between Hazard and
Disaster for Primary Producers
CHAPTER 6
Weak Winters: Dynamic Decision-Making in the Face of Extended
Drought in Ceará, Northeast Brazil DONALD R. NELSON AND
TIMOTHY J. FINAN 107
CHAPTER 7
The Impact of Volcanic Hazards on the Ancient Olmec and Epi-Olmec
Economies in the Los Tuxtlas Region, Veracruz, Mexico
OLAF JAIME-RIVERÓN AND CHRISTOPHER POOL 133
CHAPTER 8
If the Pyroclastic Flow Doesn’t Kill You, the Recovery Will:
Cascading Impacts of Mt. Tungurahua’s Eruptions in Rural
Ecuador LINDA M. WHITEFORD AND GRAHAM A. TOBIN 155
Part IV: Product Distribution in Hazardous Settings
CHAPTER 9
When the Lights Go Out: Understanding Natural Hazard and
Merchant “Brownout” Behavior in the Provincial Philippines
TY MATEJOWSKY 179
CHAPTER 10
Where Others Fear to Trade: Modeling Adaptive Resilience in Ethnic
Trading Networks to Famines, Maritime Warfare, and Imperial
Stability in the Growing Indian Ocean Economy, ca. 1500–1700 CE
RAHUL OKA, CHAPURUKHA M. KUSIMBA, AND VISHWAS D. GOGTE 201
CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER 11
Madagascar’s Cyclone Vulnerability and the Global Vanilla Economy
MARGARET L. BROWN 241
Part V: Political Economic Mitigation of Disasters
CHAPTER 12
Learning from Disaster? Mad Cows, Squatter Fires, and Temporality in
Repeated Crises ALAN SMART AND JOSEPHINE SMART 267
CHAPTER 13
“Hurricanes Did Not Just Start Happening”: Expectations of
Intervention in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Casino Industry
JENNIFER TRIVEDI 295
CHAPTER 14
From the Phoenix Effect to Punctuated Entropy: The Culture of
Response as a Unifying Paradigm of Disaster Mitigation and Recovery
CHRISTOPHER L. DYER 313
Index 337
About the Authors 345

Acknowledgments
A
s hosts of the 2007 Society for Economic Anthropology confer-
ence “The Political Economy of Hazards and Disasters” and as edi-
tors of this volume, we would like to acknowledge several people
who made the conference and this volume a success. First, we would like
to thank all those who managed to brave the weather “events” across North
America that made travel a challenge. That so many managed to attend the
meeting and arrive with intellect and humor intact is an indication of the
interest in how it is that societies and cultures deal with the political and eco-
nomic aspects of extreme events. The planning of the event was greatly aided
by Sofia Ivanova and Pamela Canady, who ensured that the details were
addressed. We also want to recognize Courtney Hill, Phet Keomanyvanh,
Amy Morse, and Tess Holder, who greeted attendees with warm smiles
and ensured we all knew where we needed to be at our appointed times. A
special thanks to the general series editor Dolores Koenig, who has provided
valuable, gentle, and insistent guidance in the drafting of this volume. Three
anonymous reviewers provided insightful critique and suggestions for our
editing. Kari MacLauchlin helped us out with excellent copyediting to pre-
pare the volume for submission. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the sup-
port of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, College of Arts and
Sciences and the Department of Anthropology, which provided us with the
time and resources needed to plan and execute the conference as well as re-
view and edit this volume. And thank you to Brent K. Marshall (1966–2008)
for inspiration as a leader of a new generation of disaster researchers.
ix