Work

Rethinking disaster utopia: the limits of conspicuous resilience for community‐based recovery and adaptation

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: While some communities appear to blossom in the wake of a disaster, others are left to struggle in the ashes. This paper introduces the concept of 'conspicuous resilience' to understand how emergent community-based recovery efforts privilege some needs while marginalising others, contributing to uneven forms of recovery. Drawing on a qualitative case study of the deadly Montecito debris flow in Southern California, United States, in January 2018, an in-depth examination of emergent community-based resilience efforts is gauged next to the social construction of unmet needs. Conspicuous acts of resilience centred around gaps in social and financial support as well as desires for protection from future debris flows. In defining and addressing needs, community-based interventions mirrored existing social inequalities and uneven relationships of power, promoting a false sense of equality and security while reinforcing private interests. To address the limits of conspicuous resilience, a justice-oriented politics of disaster recovery is needed.

Source: Disasters

DOI: 10.1111/disa.12567

Author: Summer Gray

Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara

Language: English

Topic: Disaster Management and Resilience

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Sustainable cities and communities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,350