This book offers anthropological insights into disasters in Latin America. It fills a gap in the literature by bringing together national and regional perspectives in the study of disasters. The book essentially explores the emergence and development of anthropological studies of disasters. It adopts a methodological approach based on ethnography, participant observation, and field research to assess the social and historical constructions of disasters and how these are perceived by people of a certain region. This regional perspective helps assess long-term dynamics, regional capacities, and regional-global interactions on disaster sites. With chapters written by prominent Latin American anthropologists, this book also considers the role of the state and other nongovernmental organizations in managing disasters and the specific conditions of each country, relative to a greater or lesser incidence of disastrous events. Globalizing the existing literature on disasters with a focus on Latin America, this book offers multidisciplinary insights that will be of interest to academics and students of geography, anthropology, sociology, and political science.

The main objective of the book is to offer a vision of the dynamics of the main disasters in South America, describing their mechanisms and consequences on South American societies. The chapters are written by selected specialists of each country. Human-induced disasters are also included, such as desertification in Patagonia and soil erosion in Brazil. The receding of South-American glaciers as a response to recent climatic trends and sea-level scenarios are discussed. The approach is broad in analyzing causes and consequences and includes social and economic costs, discussing environmental and planning problems, but always describing the geomorphologic/geologic involved processes with a good scientific substantiation. This is important to differentiate the book from others of a more 'social' impact that discuss risks and disasters with emphases mainly on economy and simple impacts. Actual theme, interesting for a variety of professionals Fills in the scarcity of specialized literature in geosciences from South America The first book in the market exclusively devoted to geomorphology of disasters in South America

Annotation In the aftermath of disaster, literary and other cultural representations of the event can play a role in the renegotiation of political power. Here, the author analyses four natural disasters in Latin America that acquired national significance and symbolism through literary mediation.

Writing natural disasters : an overview -- Civil solidarity and humanitarian aide : a test for governance -- Trauma and collective memory : a flood of emotions -- Immigration and diaspora : a torrent of dreams -- Preparation and recovery in Chile and Cuba : fissures -- Lessons and more fissures : Mexico and Haiti.

Natural Disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean: Coping with Calamity explores the relationship between natural disasters and civil society, immigration and diaspora communities and the long-term impact on emotional health. Natural disasters shape history and society and, in turn, their long-range impact is determined by history and society. This is especially true in Latin America and the Caribbean, where climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of these extreme events. Ranging from pre-Columbian flooding in the Andes to the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, this book focuses on long-range recovery and recuperation, rather than short-term disaster relief. Written in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the author shows how lessons learned about civil society, governance, climate change, inequality and trauma from natural disasters have their echoes in the challenges of today’s uncertain world. This book is well-suited to the classroom and will be an asset to students of Latin American history, environmental history and historical memory.

This book shows how the adoption of the neoliberal development model has increased the social vulnerability to disasters, with a special focus on Mexico, a country which once was the role model of the neoliberal turn in Latin America. It brings together 12 case studies of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic emergencies, in both urban and rural areas, to show how neoliberal development projects and changes in legislation affected disaster prevention and management in different parts of the country. The case studies from Mexico are complemented by two comparative studies which analyze the impacts of neoliberalism in disaster prevention and management in Mexico, Brazil, United States and Italy. Disasters and Neoliberalism: Different Expressions of Social Vulnerability presents a unique contribution to the interdisciplinary field of disaster research by presenting qualitative studies of disaster vulnerability from the perspective of scholars from the Global South, bringing a fresh and critical approach to English speaking social sciences qualitative researchers working on disaster risks in a number of fields, such as geography, anthropology, sociology, political science and environmental studies.