Risk and Disaster TIG

2022 In Review for Risk And Disaster Scholarship 

Jennifer Trivedi
Joyce Rivera González
Anuszka Maton-Mosurska 

In 2022, members of the Risk & Disaster TIG, as well as other researchers and practitioners who engage with us through our panels, activities, listserv, and social media, have prolifically produced scholarship on a range of critical topics at the intersection of disasters and anthropology. While the COVID-19 pandemic remains, understandably, a key issue in such work, it is set amidst other pandemics and epidemics. Additionally, many other themes and issues come to the fore, including work on teaching, mental health, teaching and education, professional training, methods and ethics, conceptual and theoretical discussions, risk and risk perception, climate and environmental change, water issues, politics and power, representation, and other interacting disasters that have affected many people around the world. as well as ongoing recovery and mitigation processes from previous disasters. Our practice and scholarship demonstrates the continued breadth and relevance of risk and disaster research in anthropology and the world writ large. 

The works listed below are but a sample of our TIG's noteworthy endeavors, as many more have been published across multiple academic journals and public-facing publications. Space constraints have limited the selection to follow, but here we attempt to bring together as varied and representative a sample as possible. Unless otherwise noted, each of these pieces was published in 2022.

Names in bold below are individuals presenting at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society of Applied Anthropology in March 2023, as of January 2023’s preliminary program. Please note that this program is by no means complete, and so others on this list are likely to be presenting in March. Please be sure to check the final program for more of their work! 

Published Monographs and Edited Volumes

Note that this includes volumes in which multiple researchers and practitioners are included in distinct chapters, sections, etc.

Alcántara-Ayala, I., C. Gomez, K. Chmutina, D. van Niekerk, E. Raju, V. Marchezini, J. R. Cadag, and J. C. Gaillard. Disaster Risk. Taylor & Francis.
Bankoff, G. and D. Hilhorst, eds. Why Vulnerability Still Matters: The Politics of Disaster Risk Creation. London: Routledge & CRC Press.
Erikson, K. and L. Peek. 2022. The Continuing Storm: Learning from Katrina. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Faas, A.J. 2023. In the Shadow of Tungurahua: Disaster Politics in Highland Ecuador. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.​​​​​​​
Hoffman, S. M., T. H. Eriksen and P. Mendes, eds. 2002. Cooling Down: Local Responses to Global Climate Change. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Kane, S. 2022. Just One Rain Away: The Ethnography of River-City Flood Control. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Kelman, I. Antarcticness: Inspirations and Imaginaries. 2022. London: UCL Press.
Murphy Thomas, J. 2022. Making Things Happen: Community Participation and Disaster Reconstruction in Pakistan. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Redding, T. M. and C. C. Cheney. 2022. Profiles of Anthropological Praxis: An International Casebook. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Tatano, H. and A. Collins, editors. 2023. Proceedings of the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction. Disaster and Risk Research: GADRI Book Series (DRRGBS). Singapore: Springer. 

Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics

D’Anna, L. and C. A. Grace-McCaskey. “Bridging a Pandemic-Sized Distance.” Human Organization 81(3): 213–16.​​​​​​​
Faas, A.J., S. Jarrar, and N. Gonzalez Bautista.“Aging Queer in a Pandemic.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(4): 411–24.
Gibb, C., N. Campbell, and G. Meltzer. “Researching Children and Disasters” AJDTS 26(2): 83-98.​​​​​​​
Grace-McCaskey, C. A., L. D’Anna, K. S. Hagge, R. Etheridge, and R. L. Smith III. “Virtually Engineering Community Engagement.” Human Organization 81 (3): 217–28.
Harrington, L., Y. Adjrah, A. Allen, A. Cancel-Roman, K. Dew, J. Feather, M. R. Hale, A. Jones, G. Knight, S. Kroll-Smith, J. Person, and M. Powers. “Building Community in Virtual Space.” Human Organization 81(3)): 280–90.​​​​​​​
Hinds, K-A, M. C. Platz, R. Zarger, and M. E. Arias. “Engaging in Interdisciplinary Coastal Research During a Pandemic.” Human Organization 81(3): 271–79.
Maggioni, A., J. A. Gonzales-Zamora, A. Maggioni, L. Peek, S. A. McLaughlin, U. von Both, M. Emonts, Z. Espinel, and J. M. Shultz. “Cascading Risks for Preventable Infectious Diseases in Children and Adolescents during the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(12): 7005.​​​​​​​
Moolenaar, E. N. “‘Not All Crises Are Created Equal’.” Journal of Political Ecology 29 (1).
Oliver Smith, A. “The Social Construction of Disaster.” Economic Anthropology 9(1): 167–71.
Porter, R. and H. McIlvaine-Newsad. “‘If I Get Corona, I Get Corona’.” Leisure/Loisir 0(0): 1–26.​​​​​​​

Mental Health

Fletcher, E. H., E. L. Backe, T. Brykalski, A. Fitzpatrick, M. González, S. L. Ginzburg, R. Meeker, R. P. Riendeau, M. Thies-Sauder, and B. M. Reyes-Foster. “Policy Statement: Mental Well-Being among Anthropologists at Universities: A Call for System Transformation.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 36(1): 155–72.
Flores, E. C., I. Kelman, Y. Joye, J. Willem Bolderdijk, S. Ayeb-Karlsson, A. Wutich, L. Ayalon, and C. Hickman. “A Healthy Planet for a Healthy Mind.” One Earth 5(4): 307–10.​​​​​​​
Trivedi, J. and M. Stevens. 2023. “Impacts of the COVID-19 Response on Populations with Chronic Conditions and Developmental Disabilities.” In Covid-19, Frontline Responders and Mental Health. J. Horney, ed. Pp. 79-95. Somerville: Emerald Publishing.​​​​​​​

Teaching and Education

Delany-Barmann, G. and H. McIlvaine-Newsad. “Cultivating Change in the Curriculum through International Faculty Development.” In Applying Anthropology to General Education. J. R. Wies and H. J. Haldane, eds. New York: Routledge.​​​​​​​
Felima, C. “Teaching Haitian Studies and Caribbean Digital Humanities.” Taboo 21(1): 14-28. ​​​​​​​
Howells, M. E., K. L’Amour Woolard Mayfour, T. B. April, R. L. Bender, and J. E. Loudon. “Is There a Difference in Student Physical Activity between a Field School and a Traditional Classroom Setting?” American Journal of Human Biology 34(12): e23799.​​​​​​​
Ruth, A., K. Mayfour, J. Hardin, T. Sangaramoorthy, A. Wutich, H. R. Bernard, A. Brewis, M. Beresford, C. Sturtz Sreetharan, B. McKinley Jones Brayboy. H. J. F. Dengah II, R. Negron, B. A. Piperata, J. G. Snodgrass, R. Zarger. “Teaching Ethnographic Methods.” Human Organization 81(4): 401–12.​​​​​​​

Professional Training and the State of the Field

Bonelli, M. d. G., F. Damacena, A. S. Viana, A. D. Gambardella, and V. Marchezini. “Challenges for Professionalism in Civil Defense and Protection.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(5): 565–80.
Brazelton, L., M. Howells, L. Landgraf, and C. D. Lynn. “Impacts of Family and Fieldwork on Career/Family Balance among Tenure-Track and Tenured Anthropologists.” American Journal of Human Biology 34(S1): e23686.
Morss, R. E., J. Vickery, A. Bostrom, J. L. Demuth, H. Lazrus, E. K. Laidlaw, and N. Hadjimichael. “Modernizing the NWS Tropical Cyclone Product Suite by Evaluating NWS Partner Decisions and Information Needs.” Final Report to NOAA. 
Wu, H., L. Peek, M. C. Mathews, and N. Mattson. “Cultural Competence for Hazards and Disaster Researchers.” Natural Hazards Review 23(1): 06021005.
Yadav, P., J. Lassa, V. Marchezini, and D. van Niekerk. “Guest Editorial: Introduction to Calling for Change in Disaster Studies – Rethinking Disaster Studies.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(3): 177–81.​​​​​​​

Methods & Ethics

Gaillard, J.C. and E. Raju. “On Priorities, Values and Relationships in Practice.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(4): 333–34.​​​​​​​
Howells, M. and K. Dancause. “‘Go with the Flo’.” Frontiers in Sociology 7: 957127.
Kendall, J. J., E. K. Marino, M. G. Briscoe, R. E. Cluck, C. N. McLean, and F. K. Wiese. “Research Partnerships and Policies.” In Partnerships in Marine Research. G. Auad and F. K. Wiese, eds. Pp. 183–97. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Marino, E. K., A. Weyiouanna, and J. Raymond-Yakoubian. “Adaptation to Repetitive Flooding.” In Partnerships in Marine Research. G. Auad and F. K. Wiese, eds. Pp. 155–65. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
O’Connell, C. and D. L. Osmond. “Why Soil Testing Is Not Enough.” Journal of Environmental Management 314: 115027.
Porto de Albuquerque, J., L. Anderson, N. Calvillo, M. Cattino, A. Clarke, M. A. Cunha, L. Degrossi, J. Garde-Hansen, C. Klonner, F. Lima-Silva, V. Marchezini, M. Martins, D. P. Grajales, V. Pitidis, M. Rizwan, N. Tkacz, and R. Trajber. “Dialogic Data Innovations for Sustainability Transformations and Flood Resilience.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Rochester, NY.​​​​​​​
Rivera-González, J., J. Trivedi, E. K. Marino, and A. Dietrich. “Imagining an Ethnographic Otherwise During a Pandemic.”Human Organization 81 (3): 291–300.
Wiese, F. K., G. Auad, E. K. Marino, and M. G. Briscoe. “Lessons Learned from Nine Partnerships in Marine Research.” InPartnerships in Marine Research. G. Auad and F. K. Wiese, eds. Pp. 167–81. Amsterdam: Elsevier.​​​​​​​

Theoretical and Conceptual Conversations

Chmutina, K., J. von Meding, D. A. Williams, J. Vickery, and C. Purdum. “From Pity to Fear: Security as a Mechanism for (Re)Production of Vulnerability.” Disasters (In press). 
Clark-Ginsberg, A., H. Fisher, J.Awan, A. Rico, T. Thomas, D. Rose, S. Vagi, L. Jenkins, and C. Nelson. “Conceptual Framework for Understanding Incident Management Systems During Public Health Emergencies.” Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness (May 2022), 1–7.​​​​​​​
Davis, K., J. D. Ford, C. H. Quinn, A. Mosurska, M. Flynn, IHACC Research Team, and S. L. Harper. “Shifting Safeties and Mobilities on the Land in Arctic North America: A Systematic Approach to Identifying the Root Causes of Disaster.” Sustainability 14(12): 7061.
Gaillard, J. C. “The Epistemological Non-Sense of Disaster Studies and Some More Sensible Prospects.” The Australian Journal of Emergency Management 37(1): 14–15.
Kelman, I. “Epilogue: What Are Disasters Not?” In Defining Disaster. M. Aronsson-Storrier and R. Dahlberg, eds. Pp. 228–38. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. 
Oliver-Smith, A. “Critical Disaster Studies: The Evolution of a Paradigm.” In A Decade of Disaster Experiences in Ōtautahi Christchurch. S. Uekusa, S. Matthewman, and B. C. Glavovic, eds. Pp. 27–53. Singapore: Springer Nature.
Peek, L.. “A New System for Disaster Research.” American Scientist 110(4): 226–31.​​​​​​​
Rivera-González, J., and M. H. Hepburn. “What Resilience Does.” Society for Cultural Anthropology. Accessed January 26, 2023.​​​​​​​
Roque, A., S. Shah, F. Tormos-Aponte, and E. Quintana. “Social Capital, Community Health Resilience, and Compounding Hazards in Corcovada, Puerto Rico.” Accessed January 26, 2023. ​​​​​​​

Risk & Risk Perception

Demuth, J. L., J. Vickery, H. Lazrus, J. Henderson, R. E. Morss, and K. D. Ash. “Rethinking Warning Compliance and Complacency by Examining How People Manage Risk and Vulnerability during Real-World Tornado Threats.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 103(6): E1553–72.
Duda, P. I., I. Kelman, N. Glick, V. Sokolenko, N. Poussenkova, and E. Nikitina. “Disaster Risk Perceptions and Multinational Cooperation in Barentsburg, Svalbard.” Polar Record 58: e6.
Gaillard, J.C. “Editorial: On the Local in Localised Disaster Risk Reduction.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(5): 493.
Hermans, T. D. G., R. S. Trogrlić, M. J. C. van den Homberg, H. Bailon, R. Sarku, and A. Mosurska. “Exploring the Integration of Local and Scientific Knowledge in Early Warning Systems for Disaster Risk Reduction.” Natural Hazards 114(2): 1125–52.
Krajeski, R., L. J. Blanchard, M. Ben-Joseph, M. Nguyễn, T. Nguyễn, B. Parras, D. Rico, M. K. Souza, D. Synan, K. Peterson, J. Maldonado, A. Jerolleman, and N. Jessee. “The Underside of Epiphany: Wandering Wonderings.” In Justice, Equity, and Emergency Management. A. Jerolleman and W. L. Waugh, eds. Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management 25:153-74. 
Marchezini, V., J. Porto de Albuquerque, V. Pitidis, C. de Moraes Rudorff, F. Lima-Silva, C. Klonner, and M. H. da Mata Martins. “Flood Risk Governance in Brazil and the UK: Facilitating Knowledge Exchange through Research Gaps and the Potential of Citizen-Generated Data.” Disaster Prevention and Management 31(6): 30–44.
Morss, R. E., J. Vickery, H. Lazrus, J. Demuth, and A. Bostrom. “Improving Tropical Cyclone Forecast Communication by Understanding NWS Partners’ Decision Timelines and Forecast Information Needs.” Weather, Climate, and Society 14(3): 783–800.
Peters, L. E. R., A. Clark-Ginsberg, B. McCaul, G. Cáceres, A. L. Nuñez, J. Balagna, A. López, S. S. Patel, R. B. Patel, and J. Van Den Hoek. “Informality, Violence, and Disaster Risks.” Frontiers in Climate 4: 937244.
West, J., L. Davis, R. L. Bendezú, Y. D. Álvarez Gandía, K. S. Hughes, J. Godt, and L. Peek. “Principles for Collaborative Risk Communication.” Journal of Emergency Management 19(8): 41–61.​​​​​​​

Climate & Environmental Change

Garland, A., A. Bukvic, and A. Maton-Mosurska. “Capturing Complexity.” Climate Risk Management 38: 100460.
Gomes, G., V. Marchezini, and M. Sato. “(In)Visibilities About the Vulnerabilities of People with Visual Impairments to Disasters and Climate Change.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 13 (1): 38–51.
Lazrus, H., J. Maldonado, P. Blanchard, M. K. Souza, B. Thomas, and D. Wildcat. “Culture Change to Address Climate Change.” PLOS Climate 1(2): e0000005.
Marino, E., A. Jerolleman, N. Jessee, A. Weyiouanna, M. S. Topkok, E. Keene, and S. Manda. “Is the Longue Durée a Legal Argument?” Human Organization 81(4): 348–57.​​​​​​​

Water Issues

Cortesi, L. “Hydrotopias and Waterland.” Geoforum 131: 215–22.

Roque, A., A. Wutich, B. Quimby, S. Porter, M. Zheng, M. Hossain, and A. Brewis. “Participatory Approaches in Water Research.” WIREs: Water 9(2): e1577.

Wutich, A., W. Jepson, C. Velasco, A. Roque, Z. Gu, M. Hanemann, M. J. Hossain, L. Landes, R. Larson, W. W. Li, O. Morales-Pate, N. Patwoary, S. Porter, Y-s Tsai, M. Zheng, and P. Westerhoff. “Water Insecurity in the Global North.” WIREs Water 9(4): e1595.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Politics, Power, People, & Voices

Christianson, A. C., C. R. Sutherland, F. Moola, N. Gonzalez Bautista, D. Young, and H. MacDonald. “Centering Indigenous Voices.” Current Forestry Reports 8(3): 257–76.
Clark-Ginsberg, A., J. Balagna, C. S. Nam, M. Casagrande, and O. Wilkinson. “Humanitarian Policymaking as Networked Governance.” Journal of International Humanitarian Action 7(1): 22.
Dé, L. L. and J. C. Gaillard. “Whose Views Matter?” In Defining Disaster. M. Aronsson-Storrier and R. Dahlberg, eds. Pp. 123-39. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. ​​​​​​​
González, M. “Colonial Abandonment and Hurricane María.” ETropic 21(2): 140–61.​​​​​​​
González, M. “Diaspora.” Feminist Anthropology 3(2): 234–234.
Haverkamp, J. “The Coloniality of Global Climate Governance.” Cultural Anthropology. June 23. 
He, X., J. Yan, L. E. Yang, H. Zhou, Y. Wu, and S. Wu. “The Role of Government Interventions in Household Climate Adaptation on the Tibetan Plateau.” Journal of Rural Studies 95: 544–59.
Izenberg, M., A. Clark-Ginsberg, N. Clancy, L. Busch, J. Schmidt, and L. Dixon. “Efforts to End a Stalemate in Landslide Insurance Availability through Inclusive Policymaking.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 80: 103202.
Kelman, I. and A. Clark-Ginsberg. “An Urban Governance Framework for Including Environmental Migrants in Sustainable Cities.” Climate 10 (8): 121.
Lappé, M., F. F. Fahey, and R. J. Hein. “Epigenomic Stories.” Science, Technology, & Human Values 0(0). 
Mosurska, A., A. Clark-Ginsberg, S. Sallu, and J.D. Ford. “Disasters and Indigenous Peoples.” Environment and Planning E 0(0).
Rodas, A. M., C. González-Muzzio, and V. Marchezini. “El Diálogo Continúa.” Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos sobre Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres REDER 6(1): 1–8.​​​​​​​
Swamy, R. “Tranquebar.” Dialectical Anthropology 46(3): 247–65.
Truelove, Y. and H. A. Ruszczyk. “Bodies as Urban Infrastructure.” Political Geography 92: 102492.

Other Works​​​​​​​

Adams, R. M., J. Tobin, L. Peek, J. Breeden, S. McBride, and R. de Groot. “The Generational Gap.” AJDTS 26(2).
Baer, R. D., E. Holbrook, K. Kelly, and S. C. Weller. “Understanding the Decision to Evacuate on the United States Gulf Coast.” Human Organization 81(3): 203-12. 
Cortesi, L. “On the Epistemic Ruins of Existence.” In “Invisible Cities” and the Urban Imagination. B. Linder, ed. Pp. 83–94. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Harris, M., P. I. Duda, I. Kelman, and N. Glick. “Addressing Disaster and Health Risks for Sustainable Outer Space.” Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (Early View). ​​​​​​​
Howells, M. E., J. E. Loudon, F. Brotcorne, J. V. Petterson, I. N. Wandia, I. G. A. A. Putra, and A. Fuentes. “Primates and Primatologists.” In Ecotourism and Indonesia’s Primates. S. L. Gursky, J. Supriatna, and A. Achorn, eds. Pp. 153–78. Cham: Springer International Publishing.​​​​​​​
Howells, M., K. Wander, L. Rivera, C. Arfouni, O. Benhelal, M. M. Overstreet Galeano, L. Schultz, N. Flock, and K. Dancause. 2023. “Maternal Stress and Hair Cortisol among Pregnant Women Following Hurricane Florence.” American Journal of Human Biology 35(1): e23847.
Mankoff, J., D. Kasnitz, Disability Studies, L. J. Camp, J. Lazar, and H. Hochheiser. “Areas of Strategic Visibility.” arXiv.
Molinari, S. “Disaster Fraud Prevention by Exclusion.” Centro Journal 34(2): 327–51.
Reinke, A., J. Kim, and E. Eldridge. “The March 2020 Tennessee Tornados.” Natural Hazards Center Weather Ready Research Report Series 2. 
Seglah, H. and K. Blanchard. 2023. “Housing, Disasters and LGBTQIA+ People.” DRR Dynamics.
Shultz, J. M., L. Peek, and S. Galea. “Advances in Estimating Mortality Associated With Tropical Cyclones in the US.” JAMA327 (10): 929–31.
Viana, A. S., V. Marchezini, and A. D. Gambardella. “Cronicidade dos processos de reconstrução e recuperação em desastres.” Revista da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 29(2): 69–91.
Zheng, X., X. Fang, Y. Ye, J. Pongratz, C. Zhang, J. Li, L. E. Yang, Y. Li, and E. Eckmeier. “Reconstruction of Historical Forest Cover on a 1° Grid in Central and Southeast Europe from AD 1800 to 2000.” The Holocene 32(10): 1052–64.​​​​​​​

Beyond Publications

In addition to this range of published works, many researchers and practitioners arranged for workshops, talks, webinars, and more that shared their work with others in the field and beyond. Melinda González organized a two-part creative writing workshop for academics. Ilan Kelman organized a webinar asking if we need the IPCC. 

Noémie Gonzalez Bautista was part of the CIFAL York Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Disaster & Emergency Management Speaker Series. Mark Schuller and A.J. Faas spoke about the politics of disasters and climate change, building on their books Humanity’s Last Stand and In the Shadow of Tungurahua in Seattle. Meztli Yoalli Rodríguez Aguilera spoke as part of the Latin American Anthropology Seminar Series on “Grieving Geographies, Mourning Waters: Race, Gender and Environmental Struggles in Oaxaca, Mexico.” 

The Disasters Deconstructed Podcast’s (Ksenia Chmutina and Jason von Meding) seventh season featured guest appearances by Noémie Bautista Gonzalez and Estella Carpi. 

The Critical Disaster Studies was launched, including Raja Swamy and Mark Schuller as editors and Roberto Barrios on the editorial board. 

And, after many years of work, collaboration and coproduction of knowledge, Heather Lazrus, Daniel Wildcat, Julie Maldonado, Haskell Indian Nations University, and Raising Voices/NCAR have been awarded $20 million from the NSF for the Rising Voices, Changing Coasts (RVCC) Hub to be housed at Haskell Indian Nations University. This project provides the space for collaboration between Indigenous knowledge keepers and scholars from the earth and physical sciences on "transformative research to address coastal hazards in the contexts of their communities." 

Lastly, in 2022 we welcomed Anuszka Maton-Mosurska as the TIG's newest co-chair! Joyce Rivera-González and Jenn Trivedi continue in their respective roles as co-chair and social media manager. 

We look forward to sharing more of our work and participating in dialogues across the organization soon. See you all in Cincinnati! ​​​​​​​ 

If you are interested in more of the work that our TIG is doing in the world, connect with us! Please visit our Linktree for more information. Lastly, if you are a member of the RDTIG, we want to feature and highlight your work! Please email us at riskanddisastertig@gmail.com and we will make sure to include all of your wonderful contributions to our next newsletter.