The Angry Earth: Disaster in Anthropological Perspective

419 Pages·2020·9.938 MB·English

by  Anthony Oliver-Smith, Susanna M. Hoffman

THE ANGRY EARTH
The Angry Earth explores how various cultures in different historical moments have responded to
calamity, offering insight into the complex relationship between societies and their environments.
From hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes to oil spills and nuclear accidents, disasters triggered
by both natural and technological hazards have become increasingly frequent and destructive
across the planet. Through case studies drawn from around the globe the contributors to this
volume examine issues ranging from the social and political factors that set the stage for disaster,
to the cultural processes experienced by survivors, to the long-term impact of disasters on culture
and society. In the second edition, each chapter has been updated with a postscript to reflect on
recent developments in the field. There is also new material on key present-day topics including
epidemics, drought, non-governmental organizations, and displacement and resettlement.
This book demonstrates the relevance of studying disaster from an anthropological
perspective and is a valuable resource not only for anthropologists but for other fields
concerned with education, policy, and practice.
Anthony Oliver-Smith is a professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at
the University of Florida. He has done anthropological research and consultation on issues
relating to disasters and involuntary resettlement in Peru, Honduras, India, Brazil, Jamaica,
Mexico, Japan, Panama, and the United States since the 1970s. His current work is concerned
with climate change, disasters, displacement, and migration. He is a recipient of the Bronislaw
Malinowski Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Society for Applied Anthropology.
Susanna M. Hoffman is an internationally recognized expert on disaster. She is the author,
co-author, and editor of twelve books, two ethnographic films, and more than forty articles
and chapters. She initiated the Risk and Disaster Thematic Interest Group for the Society for
Applied Anthropology, and is the founder and chair of the Risk and Disaster Commission for
the International Union of Anthropology and Ethnographic Sciences. She was the first recipient
of the Fulbright Foundation’s Aegean Initiative dealing with the Greek and Turkish earthquakes,
and helped write the United Nations Statement on Women and Disasters. She is a frequent
national and international speaker, and also serves on the Task Force on World Food Problems.

THE ANGRY EARTH
Disaster in Anthropological Perspective
Second Edition
Edited by Anthony Oliver-Smith and
Susanna M. Hoffman
Second edition published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Anthony Oliver-Smith and Susanna
M. Hoffman; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Anthony Oliver-Smith and Susanna M. Hoffman to be
identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1999
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Oliver-Smith, Anthony, editor. | Hoffman, Susannah M., editor.
Title: The angry earth : disaster in anthropological perspective/
Edited by Anthony Oliver-Smith and Susanna M Hoffman.
Description: Second edition. | Abingdon, Oxon;
New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019024789 (print) | LCCN 2019024790 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781138237834 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138237841 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781315298887 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Natural disasters–Social aspects. | Hazardous geographic
environments. | Human beings–Effect of environment on.
Classification: LCC HV553 .A585 2020 (print) | LCC HV553 (ebook) |
DDC 303.48/5–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024789
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019024790
ISBN: 978-1-138-23783-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-23784-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-29891-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
CONTENTS
List of Figures ix
List of Tables x
List of Contributors xi
Acknowledgments xvi
Introduction to the Second Edition of The Angry Earth:
From Introduction to Widespread Reception 1
Susanna M. Hoffman and Anthony Oliver-Smith
Introduction to the First Edition. Anthropology and the Angry Earth:
An Overview 15
Susanna M. Hoffman and Anthony Oliver-Smith
PART I
Disasters, Environment, and Culture 27
1 “What Is a Disaster?”: Anthropological Perspectives on a Persistent Question 29
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Postscript: Hazards of Nature, Disasters of Society 41
PART II
Environmental Pattern, Hazards, and Culture:
The Archaeological Perspective 45
2 Convergent Catastrophes: Geoarcheological Perspectives on Collateral
Disasters and Cultural Change in the Central Andes 47
Michael E. Moseley
Postscript: Convergent Catastrophe: Past Patterns and Future Implications of
Collateral Disaster in the Andres 56
vi Contents
3 Explosive Volcanic Eruptions and Societal Responses: A Comparative
Archeological Study in Middle America 60
Payson Sheets
Postscript: The Ilopango Volcanic Eruption and Its Effects on Climate
and People 77
PART III
The Cultural Construction of Catastrophe 81
4 Peru’s Five-Hundred-Year Earthquake: Vulnerability in
Historical Context 83
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Postscript: The Five-Hundred-Year Earthquake: Seeking Root
Causes and Deep Drivers 94
5 Examining Vulnerability to Natural Disasters: A Comparative
Analysis of Four Southern California Communities after the
Northridge Earthquake 98
Lois Stanford and Robert Bolin
Postscript: Vulnerability Then and Now 116
6 The Negation of a Disaster: The Media Response to
Oils Spills in Great Britain 121
Gregory V. Button
Postscript: Continued Disavowal and the Advent of Social Media 135
PART IV
Varieties of Cultural Response 139
7 “The Worst of Times, the Best of Times”: Toward a Model of
Cultural Response to Disaster 141
Susanna M. Hoffman
Postscript: Behind the Stages and Act Four: More to the Worst of Times,
the Best of Times Model 157
8 Vulnerability, Disaster, and Survival in Bangladesh:
Three Case Studies 162
Mohammad Q. Zaman
Postscript: Integrated Approach to Risk Reduction and Development 178
Contents vii
9 “Tell Them We’re Hurting”: Hurricane Andrew, the Culture of
Response, and the Fishing Peoples of South Florida and Louisiana 183
Christopher L. Dyer and James R. McGoodwin
Postscript: Hurricanes: Diverse Impacts and Diverse Responses 196
10 Epidemics and Disasters: From Venezuela’s Delta Amacuro to the
Mississippi Wetlands 199
Charles L. Briggs and Anne M. Lovell
11 Drought: A Challenge to Livelihoods, Sustainability, and Resilience 212
J. Terrence McCabe and Amy Quandt
12 The Brotherhood of Pain: Emotion and Social Organization in the
Crisis of Disaster 227
Anthony Oliver-Smith
Postscript: Communitas and Resilience 239
13 The Regenesis of Traditional Gender Patterns in the Wake of Disaster 244
Susanna M. Hoffman
Postscript: Still With Us after All These Years; but Slowly Changing 258
PART V
Agencies, Survivors, and Culture 263
14 Plan and Pattern in Reaction to Earthquake: Peru, 1970–1998 265
Paul L. Doughty
Postscript: Revisiting a Scene of Disaster, Again 282
15 Bhopal and Beyond: An Anthropology of Relief and Rehabilitation
Efforts and Prospects for a Socially Relevant Political Ecology of
Disaster Management 288
S. Ravi Rajan
Postscript: The Bhopal Gas Disaster Three Decades On 303
16 The Phoenix Effect in Post-Disaster Recovery: An Analysis of the
Economic Development Administration’s Culture of Response after
Hurricane Andrew 308
Christopher L. Dyer
Postscript: The Phoenix Effect Revisited: Hurricane Andrew, South Florida,
and the Rise of Punctuated Entropy 326
viii Contents
17 Disaster Anthropology in Non-Governmental Organizations 330
Adam Koons
18 Disaster and Climate Change-Related Displacements and
Resettlements: Cultural and Political Ecologies of Space, Power,
and Practice 345
A. J. Faas, Roberto E. Barrios, Elizabeth K. Marino, and Julie K. Maldonado
PART VI
Disaster and Cultural Continuity 357
19 Islands on an Angry Earth: Climate Change, Disasters, and Implications
for Two Island Communities 359
Heather Lazrus and Carlos Arenas
20 After Atlas Shrugs: Cultural Persistence and Perpetuation in the
Context of Disaster 371
Susanna M. Hoffman
Postscript: After Atlas Staggers: The Question of Cultural Continuity and
Change Twenty Years Later 388
Index 393
FIGURES
3.1 M ap of Southern Mexico and Central America 63
5.1 P rogression of factors contributing to vulnerability 102
5.2 M ap of the impact zone 106
8.1 M ajor rivers and areas liable to erosion in Bangladesh 168
8.2 F lood and cyclone vulnerability (1960–1991) 174
9.1 T he path of Hurricane Andrew across Florida and Louisiana, and
significant environmental impacts affecting the fishing communities
of each state 188
11.1 I siola, Kenya, study area 219
11.2 N orthern Tanzania study area 221
14.1 M ap of Callejón de Huaylas, Peru 268
16.1 A ffected areas of Dade County, Florida 310
19.1 T he Pacific Island Nation of Tuvalu, including the northernmost
atoll of Nanumea 363
19.2 G unayala and the community of Gardi Sugdub 366