On Thursday, February 7, 2019, Shannon Lee Dawdy from the Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago will present the Center for Translating Research Into Practice annual Keynote Community Address at 7 p.m. at the John H Boner Center, 2236 E 10th St, Indianapolis, IN 46201. There is no cost to attend and all are welcome!
"The Eye of a Storm: Environmental Injustice and a Deep History of Disasters"
When we look over the deep history of human experience as studied by archaeologists, it is punctuated by disasters and the social re-organization that often follows them. Social scientists define disaster as a combination of a natural hazard (a volcano, a hurricane, a severe drought) and human vulnerability. In our present day, the frequency of disasters seems to be increasing while at the same time “natural hazards” appear to be more often human-caused, such as tropical storms increasing in frequency due to climate change and devastating wildfires caused by downed electrical wires. Are human societies, despite their technological advances, becoming more vulnerable? And who is the most vulnerable in the wake of disaster? Bringing together the approaches of environmental justice and disaster studies, I suggest thinking through the lens of Environmental Injustice, which means that we stop trying to separate nature from culture as we plan for a better future.
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