Reinvestigating social vulnerability from the perspective of Critical Disaster Studies (CDS): directions, opportunities and challenges in Aotearoa disaster research
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Date
2024-01-29
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Group
Rights
(c) 2024 The Author/s
CC BY 4.0
CC BY 4.0
Abstract
This article argues that resilience has been overemphasised in popular and scholarly discourse, while social vulnerability has been comparatively overlooked. We therefore need to shift the focus from resilience and adaptation towards vulnerability and the various structures that engender and maintain systemic inequality and disadvantage. This necessitates a shift from strict hazard management and resilience building to considerations of social justice. People should not have to be resilient to ongoing marginalisation and stigmatisation, and, in focusing on individual resilience, systemic disadvantage is obscured. Disaster scholars here must also reckon with the structural violence of colonisation. Aotearoa New Zealand has a unique hazard profile, and it has unique social infrastructures that can help deal with them. The best disaster mitigation and recovery programmes are inclusive and equity driven. Greater attention to Indigenous Knowledge – Mātauranga Māori – and Indigenous institutions, such as marae and the myriad relationships and connections that such institutions support, might potentially play a crucial role in future disaster mitigation and response.
Description
Keywords
Critical Disaster Studies(CDS), Cyclone Gabrielle, disaster risk reduction (DRR), Indigenous Knowledge (IK), resilience, social vulnerability
Citation
Uekusa S, Wynyard M, Matthewman S. (2024). Reinvestigating social vulnerability from the perspective of Critical Disaster Studies (CDS): directions, opportunities and challenges in Aotearoa disaster research. Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal Of Social Sciences Online. Latest Articles. (pp. 1-18).