Root Causes of Social Vulnerability:

Historical

Session 4

Session 4 2

Session Objectives

Understand that there are various, highly divergent ways of defining what history is

Appreciate a number of ways in which knowledge of history can be helpful in emergency and disaster management

Be able to describe the kinds of evidence that are used in the study of history and different ways of defining historical explanation

Review examples of the role of disaster in U.S. history and the history of disaster management

Review examples of the role of disaster in world history and the history of international response to disasters

Session 4 3

What is History?

Session 4 4

The Past

Is “the past” an accumulation of events that happen?

How do we determine what a discrete “event” is?

Are all events or happenings of equal importance from the point of view of structures, processes, patterns?

Or are there some events without which the stream of future events is likely to have been dramatically different?

Session 4 5

Periods, Epochs

Positivism – the past is composed of “events” or “happenings”– Processes – larger structures in history– Periods/Eras/Epochs – larger patterns of history

Historicism – periods of history are unique in each society and have to understood by sharing the “feeling” of society as well as knowing “facts”

Universal History – large processes (such as colonialism, Cold War, globalization, progress) that involve all societies everywhere– Is “progress” simply human beings actualizing their potential?– Is “progress” a filter through which only some societies have viewed

history? Power Models – economic and political power held by limited

numbers of individuals drive events Post-Modernism – history is all discontinuous and depends

completely on personal points of view

Session 4 6

Heritage

A common sense of identity

Can imply personal or collective responsibility, obligations, rights, and privileges

The view takes little account of events or processes that are external to their defined locality or group

Session 4 7

Why Study History?

Tapping local knowledge– Oral traditions can provide

information about extreme events not well documented by external sources

– Lived experience and memory of elderly can be a source of how people used to cope with extreme events

Building risk awareness– Events that occur infrequently are

not well remembered– Older generation can be

integrated as a means of passing on awareness

Mobilizing local participation in risk reduction

Learning from past mistakes– Can measure progress by

studying how a specific locality dealt with extreme events in the past

– Benchmarking may be useful to judge contemporary policy

Reversing root causes of vulnerability– Root causes have origins in past

beliefs, practices, policies, concentrations of power

– Reversing root causes is problematic

– Root causes of vulnerability can be reversed only slowly and with great effort

Historical Knowledge and Risk Awareness

Historical Knowledge and Public Policy

Session 4 8

Alternatives to “Official” History

Session 4 9

Disaster as a Force inU.S. History

Cold winters has been linked to disappearance of early settlements

Gales and hurricanes have been implicated in ship wrecks

Epidemics affected both indigenous and European populations

Development and consolidation of national state was bound up with infrastructure to mitigate effects of extreme natural events

Drought preceding the Dust Bowl considered a major turning point in U.S. history

Early History Later History

Session 4 10

Disaster and Policy Making in U.S. History

National authorities have to balance requests for disaster assistance from various regions

Although appeals are considered equally legitimate, some events stand out as having triggered new legislation and practices

Session 4 11

How Disasters Became an International Issue

1968-1972: The Construction of Humanitarianism

U.S. Involvement in Foreign Disaster Relief The International Decade for Natural Disaster

Reduction