Weathering the World
Recovery in the Wake of the Tsunami in a Tamil Fishing Village
1st Edition
Published on 1. August 2011
Book
Hardback
158 pages
978-0-85745-199-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Asian tsunami in December 2004 severely affected people in coastal regions all around the Indian Ocean. This book provides the first in-depth ethnography of the disaster and its effects on a fishing village in Tamil Nadu, India. The author explores how the villagers have lived with the tsunami in the years succeeding it and actively worked to gradually regain a sense of certainty and confidence in their environment in the face of disempowering disaster. What appears is a remarkable local recovery process in which the survivors have interwoven the tsunami and the everyday in a series of subtle practices and theorisations, resulting in a complex and continuous recreation of village life. By showing the composite nature of the tsunami as an event, the book adds new theoretical insight into the anthropology of natural disaster and recovery.
Reviews / Votes
"...there is much to recommend in this book, not least its subtlety and persuasiveness." ? Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute"...the ethnographic case studies are truly fascinating and memorable. It offers fruitful ways to think about the experiential impacts of the 2004 tsunami in a wider Asian context, comparisons that should definitely be pursued on Indian Ocean shores both near and far." ? Anthropos
"...a well-written ethnography and a welcome contribution to a growing field of study." ? Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
"Hastrup is a promising young anthropologist with a fresh and lively gaze, and this provocative volume augurs well for her future contribution to the field of environmental anthropology." ? American Anthropologist
"This book is a pleasure to read with its combination of intensive ethnography, its austere and almost minimal style of writing and its conceptual innovations. There is no doubt in my mind that this book it constitutes an important contribution to the manner in which we think of disaster and its relation to the everyday not only in the social sciences but also in policy sciences." ? Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Library binding
Illustrations
12 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
392 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85745-199-6 (9780857451996)
DOI
10.3167/9780857451996
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2011
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€22.99
Available for download
Person
Frida Hastrup is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Copenhagen, and has conducted long-term fieldwork in South India. Her current research addresses local responses to environmental changes in the Bay of Bengal area, with a specific focus on flooding, cyclones and coastal erosion.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Processing Disaster and Recovery
The Disaster and the Everyday
Local Worlds and Recovery
Figure and Ground in Disaster Anthropology
Transformation and Future Trajectories
Book Outline
Chapter 2. The Field: Entrance and Emergence
Arrival
Emergent Fields
Mapping Place and People
Fieldwork on Foot
A Walk around the Village
The Lay of the Land
Chapter 3. The Dwelling: Homes and Hazards
Build Back Better
Bereavement and Moving on
Homing In
Chapter 4. On Forecasting: Wind and Water
Weather or Not
The Landfall of Disaster
Dropping the Anchor
Forecasts and Precautions
In a Climate of Changing Tides
Chapter 5. Responsibility: Agents and Agencies
Local Level Humanitarian Support
On the Limits of Community
Recuperating Subjects
Chapter 6. Confusing Hardships: Onslaught and Opportunity
In Need of Repair
Certifying the Future
The Ties That Bind
Rallying for Safety
Projecting Progress
Chapter 7. Materialisations of Loss: Monument and Memory
Monumental Memories
The Materiality of Loss
On New Plots
Chapter 8. Everyday Life: Tsunami Time
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Processing Disaster and Recovery
The Disaster and the Everyday
Local Worlds and Recovery
Figure and Ground in Disaster Anthropology
Transformation and Future Trajectories
Book Outline
Chapter 2. The Field: Entrance and Emergence
Arrival
Emergent Fields
Mapping Place and People
Fieldwork on Foot
A Walk around the Village
The Lay of the Land
Chapter 3. The Dwelling: Homes and Hazards
Build Back Better
Bereavement and Moving on
Homing In
Chapter 4. On Forecasting: Wind and Water
Weather or Not
The Landfall of Disaster
Dropping the Anchor
Forecasts and Precautions
In a Climate of Changing Tides
Chapter 5. Responsibility: Agents and Agencies
Local Level Humanitarian Support
On the Limits of Community
Recuperating Subjects
Chapter 6. Confusing Hardships: Onslaught and Opportunity
In Need of Repair
Certifying the Future
The Ties That Bind
Rallying for Safety
Projecting Progress
Chapter 7. Materialisations of Loss: Monument and Memory
Monumental Memories
The Materiality of Loss
On New Plots
Chapter 8. Everyday Life: Tsunami Time
Bibliography
Index