Looking forward:Disastersat 40

Abstract

This paper reflects on contemporary studies of and responses to disasters, highlighting the importance of historical, spatial, and intersectional modes of analysis, and draws on the author's ongoing research on Southern‐led and local community responses to displacement in the Middle East. Acknowledging the plurality of ‘international communities of response’, it begins by critiquing the depiction of selected responses to disasters as ‘positive’ ‘paradigm shifts’, including in reference to the ‘localisation of aid, and the United Nations’ Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan for Syria. Next it turns to three key themes that are central to disasters studies: migration; forced displacement; and Southern‐led responses to disasters. Among other things, the paper argues that exploring the principles and modalities of South–South cooperation, rather than promoting the incorporation of Southern actors into the ‘international humanitarian system’ via the localisation agenda, presents a critical opportunity for studies of and responses to disasters.

Data, Disasters, and Space-Time Entanglements

“…We agree with other authors that disaster studies would benefit from shifting and diversifying research practices, epistemologies, and methodologies (Gaillard 2019 ; Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2019 ). Here we have focused on the methodological realm, drawing attention to temporal and spatial sensitivity in qualitative disaster research.…”

“…For instance, the ways in which nature is typically evoked as an object standing apart from society represent a problematic trace of positivism embedded in the broad set of social sciences (Lövbrand et al 2015 ). To advance knowledge production within disaster studies also calls for shifting and diversifying established research practices, epistemologies, and methodologies (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2019 ; Gaillard 2019 ). Although the potential shifts could involve many things, our focus here is on the treatment of temporality and spatiality 2 in conducting disaster research.…”

International humanitarian narratives of disasters, crises, and Indigeneity

“…They are intertwined with processes of meaning‐making that reinforce particular social, political, and theological frameworks (Belser, 2015 ). For example, in both disaster and humanitarian research, harm is linked to broad structural issues and power inequalities that unevenly distribute risk, such as oppression (Lewis, 1976 ; Mbembé and Meintjes, 2003 ; Ong, 2019 ), although many humanitarian actors use framings of disasters as unpredictable to justify short‐lived emergency relief efforts that do not consider the political economy of places (Fiddian‐Qasmiyeh, 2019 ). With this, the role of certain actors (such as the State) in vulnerability creation is obscured (Carrigan, 2010 ).…”

“…We identify, characterise, and scrutinise here humanitarian actors' narratives of humanitarian action during disasters and crises involving Indigenous Peoples. We adopt a narrow and normative definition of ‘humanitarians’, following Fiddian‐Qasmiyeh's ( 2019 ) definition of the ‘international humanitarian community’, which is hegemonic and composed, inter alia, of United Nations (UN) agencies and international non‐governmental organisations (INGOs). We recognise that this is as one of a plurality of international communities of response to disasters and crises, but spotlight this community as it is so visible and powerful in setting the discourse and humanitarian agenda.…”

Refugees’ Transnational Livelihoods and Remittances: Syrian Mobilities in the Middle East Before and After 2011

“…Hence, we cannot merely look at Syrian families in Mafraq at the local level—the study of refugee livelihoods requires a multiscalar approach that remains sensible to country-specific refugee reception policies that shape Syrians’ lives in Jordan, but also to Syrians’ transnational, mobility-based practices (cf. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2019 ). While most refugee livelihoods research focuses on North-South transfers, in this article, I look at support networks within the Global South.…”