You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This book examines current trends in scholarly thinking about the new field of the Environmental Humanities, focusing in particular on how the history of globalization and imperialism represents a special challenge to the representation of environmental issues. Essays in this path-breaking collection examine the role that narrative, visual, and aesthetic forms can play in drawing attention to and shaping our ideas about long-term and catastrophic environmental challenges such as climate change, militarism, deforestation, the pollution and management of the global commons, petrocapitalism, and the commodification of nature. The volume presents a postcolonial approach to the environmental huma...
This volume is a critical interrogation of the concept, meaning and experience of disaster in 21st-century Japan. Throughout the chapters, a central theme and guiding theoretical perspective is the recognition of the human element in disasters. The evolution of disaster studies in Japan over the past three decades—and the contextual disaster policy changes and societal processes—shows that the empirical terrain for studying disasters is changing, animating the high interest in the sociology of disaster as an interdisciplinary field.
An earthquake shatters Haiti and a hurricane slices through Texas. We hear that nature runs rampant, seeking to destroy us through these 'natural disasters'. Science recounts a different story, however: disasters are not the consequence of natural causes; they are the consequence of human choices and decisions. we put ourselves in harm's way; we fail to take measures which we know would prevent disasters, no matter what the environment does. This can be both hard to accept, and hard to unravel. A complex of factors shape disasters. They arise from the political processes dictating where and what we build, and from social circumstances which create and perpetuate poverty and discrimination. T...
The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights is a collection of case studies spanning a wide range of concerns about music and human rights in response to intensifying challenges to the well-being of individuals, peoples, and the planet. It brings forward the expertise of academic researchers, lawyers, human rights practitioners, and performing musicians who offer critical reflection on how their work might identify, inform, or advance mutual interests in their respective fields. The book is comprised of 28 chapters, interspersed with 23 ‘voices’ – portraits that focus on individuals’ intimate experiences with music in the defence or advancement of human rights – and explores the following four themes: 1) Fundamentals on music and human rights; 2) Music in pursuit of human rights; 3) Music as a means of violating human rights; 4) Human rights and music: intrinsic resonances.
This volume addresses the imperative need for recognizing, exploring, and developing the role of multilingual communication in crisis settings. It is recognized that 'communication is aid' and that access to communication is an undeniable human right in crises. Even where effective and accurate information is available to be distributed, circulated, and broadcast in different ways through an ever-growing array of technologies, too often the language barrier remains in place. From the Philippines to Lebanon via Spain, Italy, Columbia, and the UK, crisis situations occur worldwide, with different cultural reactions and needs everywhere. The contributors of this volume represent a geographical ...
Dealing with the risks of climate change and disaster is a political process. It produces winners and losers, mobility and permanence, radical change and continuity, relief and suffering. For some, it ultimately leads to life or death. Yet consultants, academics, humanitarian agents, and politicians often simply propose well-intentioned ideas—resilience, sustainability, community participation, emergency shelter, green development—while failing to perceive the blind spots and unintended consequences of such approaches. Debating Disaster Risk brings together leading global experts to explore the controversies that emerge—and the tough decisions that must be made—when cities, people, a...
Catastrophe and Conflict: Disaster Diplomacy and Its Foreign Policy Implications examines how and why disaster-related activities (disaster response and disaster risk reduction) do and do not lead to diplomatic endeavours. With respect to foreign policy implications, the main question examined here is: Under what circumstances could disaster diplomacy be actively made to succeed or not to succeed? Previous case studies are summarised followed by new case studies of disease diplomacy and climate change diplomacy. From the case studies, disaster diplomacy could succeed when those in power decide that they want it to succeed and then use their power for that goal. This situation is not likely to arise because of only disaster-related activities. Instead, pre-existing interests supporting diplomacy are needed.
Presented to mark the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Japan in January 2005, this publication considers developments in disaster risk reduction strategies developed over the past decade, drawing on the findings of the Yokohama review as well as examples of good practice at international, national and local levels. It has been produced through an innovative public-private partnership between the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and a commercial publisher Tudor Rose. Topics covered include: concepts of hazard, vulnerability and risk; environmental and sustainable development issues; risk identification and assessment; natural disaster preparedness and contingency planning; governance and institutional policies; knowledge development and information sharing; and risk management in relation to specific habitats.
Indigenous Knowledge (IK) has been practised in communities over time. There are several news after major disasters on how these IK has been effective to protect the lives and properties of people and communities. Some of the IK has been orally transmitted and some are documented by local organisations sporadically. Asia, being one of the most disaster prone areas in the world, people and communities has developed their coping mechanisms over time, which is reflected in the form of IK. While many organisations recognise the importance of IK for disaster risk reduction (DRR), there has been few systematic study on analysing the principles of IK and its applicability to the modern context. The book is one of the first and unique attempts of systematic study of IK in DRR. The key challenge will start after the publishing of the book: to make it a useful reference materials for decision making, research, implementation and documentation. The target of the book is professionals, practitioners, researchers and graduate students in the related field.