The Geography of Things That May Become Memories: The 2001 Earthquake in Kachchh-Gujarat and the Politics of Rehabilitation in the Prememorial Era

Abstract

This article explores the politics of reconstruction and the competing memorial practices that emerged after a devastating earthquake in western India during 2001. The material is drawn from extensive ethnographic research and analyses of the politics of rehabilitation in the ''prememorial era,'' the period before an official memorial is erected when the gap between the signified (the earthquake) and the signifier (the memorial) is still wide open and meanings and narratives of the disaster are being created, rehearsed, and contested. Many of the reconstruction initiatives undertaken after the disaster are inseparable from the politics of contemporary Hindu nationalism. Consequently, the main sections of the article examine the political nature of memorial practices and ideas about reconstruction in relation to expressions of nationalism and regionalism.

Formal education and pastoralism in western India: inclusion, or adverse incorporation?

“…Post-quake reconstruction was rapid and controversial: while it appeared to one external evaluator as a largely effective, well-integrated effort between government, civil society organisations and the people (Disasters Emergency Committee 2001), others (e.g. Simpson 2006;Simpson and Corbridge 2006) have noted how the political ideology of the Hindu right found expression in social stratification, manifest, for example, in the construction of separate villages for Muslims, for Harijans and for other Hindu groups; and favoured access to reconstruction resources for those of sharing the religious persuasion of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).…”

Symbolic Gestures: The Development Terrain of Post-Tsunami Villages in (Southern) Sri Lanka

“…We show through our paper that it is not simply the state that invests in the construction of generous giving and evokes tradition through ritual, but so do the private philanthropists and NGOs (Simpson and Corbridge, 2006;Simpson and de Alwis, 2008). As NGOs and private philanthropists participated in post-tsunami development via the process of gift giving, their involvement in creating and participating in ceremonies and rituals became a central plank in legitimising the ways in which they uphold their custom and culture.…”

The Emerging Social Contract: State-Citizen Interaction after the Floods of 2010 and 2011 in Southern Sindh, Pakistan

“…Most scholars now agree that vulnerability to disasters 'is primarily a socio-political issue rather than a question of disaster-proof technology' (AlbalaBertrand 1993). While most political scientists and geographers accept that disasters 'occur in a political space' (Cohen and Werker 2008), drive politics in the disaster-affected region (Simpson and Corbridge 2006) and alter the political space available in the post-disaster era (Drury and Ohlson 1998), it is the latter that this study is interested in examining, particularly the 'transformative' potential of the political space in the post-disaster context. This article builds on the work of Pelling and Dill (2010) that discusses 'transformative political space' after a disaster.…”