Disaster Culture: Knowledge and Uncertainty in the Wake of Human and Environmental Catastrophe

by Gregory Button

Overview

When disaster strikes, a ritual unfolds: a flood of experts, bureaucrats, and analysts rush to the scene; personal tragedies are played out in a barrage of media coverage; on the ground, confusion and uncertainty reign. In this major comparative study, Gregory Button draws on three decades of research on the most infamous human and environmental calamities to break new ground in our understanding of these moments of chaos. He explains how corporations, state agencies, social advocacy organizations, and other actors attempt to control disaster narratives, adopting public relations strategies that may either downplay or amplify a sense of uncertainty in order to advance political and policy goals. Importantly, he shows that disasters are not isolated events, offering a holistic account of the political dynamics of uncertainty in times of calamity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781315430355
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/03/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	311
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Gregory Button

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1: A Sea of Uncertainty; 2: Uncertainty and Social Conflict over Animal Rescue; 3: “What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You”; 4: “Damaged by Katrina, Ruined By Murphy Oil”; 5: Knowledge Withheld; 6: “What We Don't Know Can't Hurt You”; 7: Mediated Disaster Narratives; 8: Contested Knowledge; 9: The Production of Uncertainty; 10: Sequestered Knowledge; 11: A Gulf of Uncertainty

Editorial Reviews

I consider Disaster Culture required reading for victims of environmental disasters and those charged with managing them. The next time a dam collapses or a rig explodes, my advice is to pick up this book. Dr. Button skillfully outs corporate and government officials whose post-disaster spin tactics repeatedly exacerbated public suffering, slowed recovery, and prevented long-term solutions.”

—Lisa Evans, Senior Administrative Counsel, Earthjustice

“Drawing on his hands-on expertise, and providing a comparative survey of the key recent incidents, Gregory Button gives us an important new analysis of the disaster as a modern phenomenon.”

—Brinkley Messick, Columbia University

“In this illuminating, timely and sometimes moving book, Gregory Button combines an anthropologist’s socio-cultural insight with a journalist’s storytelling skill and eye for detail, showing how science, industry and the media become politicized and manipulated in the struggle to gain control over the interpretation of disastrous events. Button skillfully deconstructs the knowledge and information created to assess causation, damage, and responsibility, demonstrating how vested interests avoid culpability, responsibility, and liability. Particularly crucial is the problem of uncertainty and contingency, inherent in science, and the ways its calculated manipulation has been used to erase the lived experience of disaster-affected peoples, whose anguish, despair, grief, anger, and activism are evocatively presented, often in their own voices. This book will become required reading in any course on disasters as well as for anyone concerned with the issues of social and environmental justice that disasters inevitably bring to the fore.”  

—Anthony Oliver-Smith, University of Florida

From the Publisher