Jemima Duru, "Gendered Experiences of Climate Change-Induced Displacement: Exploring Inequality, Agency, and Resilience among Displaced Women in Nigeria"
The Intergovernmental Panel For Climate Change 2022 report states that with the rising sea level induced by climate change, Lagos will be among the urban centres at risk of submersion by 2050. This can already be seen in the annual displacement of twenty percent of the population in the region, fifty-five percent of whom are women. While men and women face displacement, women are disproportionately affected due to existing gender norms and socio-cultural practices. This study will explore the nuanced dynamics of gendered experiences of climate change-induced displacement, focusing on the agency and resilience of women, amidst displacement. Through a case study of internally displaced women in Lagos, Nigeria, the research aims to unravel the intricate interplay between climate change, displacement, and gender inequality. It will investigate how gender inequality manifests in Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps. The study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the nexus between climate change, displacement, and gender inequality while offering insights into developing inclusive, equitable, and gender-sensitive policies and interventions. To inform broader strategies that advocate for gender-responsive approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Through its comprehensive analysis and actionable recommendations, the study aims to foster dialogue, catalyse policy change, and pave the way for a more sustainable and equitable future in the face of climate change-induced displacement.
Taylor Gilliam, "Imagined Alternatives to Chronic Crisis in Appalachia"
This paper will consider the discursive production of the Appalachian region as a product of “crisis talk.” It is informed by the anthropological theorizations of crisis, chronicity, and anti-crisis developed by Janet Roitman and Henrik Vigh, and it will argue that Appalachia’s legibility as a region has virtually always been tied to a call for immediate intervention. This call has been sourced in media representations, federal organizations, and academic publications since the end of the 19th century. An analysis of these mobile “crises” makes plain that their definitions as such have presupposed a civilizationist narrative of modernity that both relies on and reifies settler-colonial logics and white supremacy. This has meant that techniques of intervention that might address the structural violence immanent to this naturalized narrative are foreclosed, and the material consequences of this are writ large on land and bodies. With this in mind, the paper will attend to ways the source-material for crisis narratives in Appalachia and the material consequences of crisis intervention are taken up, reformulated, or left behind by those who live in the region as they negotiate regional identity and transformation. In this way, the paper seeks to work against what Kyle Powys Whyte calls a “crisis epistemology” while attending to the potential for subversion and rearticulation it might leave in its wake. Particularly, it considers temporal and spatial production of a region as in a perpetually reoccurring state of rupture; I suggest that such a production offers a generative site for imagining, theorizing, and practicing alternative space-times that work against civilizationist narratives. Appalachian poetry and folklore are hypothesized as privileged mediums for this and are treated as primary objects of analysis.
Ashley McGraw, "Building Webs of Communicative Care in Western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene"
Housing insecurity, and the lack of resources available to food and housing insecure people in Appalachia, and the world more broadly, have been exacerbated by the rise of neoliberal approaches to social services as well as finance market systems. Pursuing my interest in how communication about resources is a form of care in unhoused communities, I have worked and volunteered at a homeless shelter called Hospitality House pre-Hurricane. I have seen how gendered ideas of care, the non-profit industrial complex or NPIC (INCITE! 2007), and the shift towards “clientization” (Gubrium & Järvinen 2015) were affecting how residents and staff interact with each other about resources. However, in the wake of Hurricane Helene, these conversations have shifted. Housing crises have increased in the area, as well as lack of access to basic necessities as communities recover from the impacts of disastrous flooding as well as evictions due to disaster capitalism (Citizen Times 2024; Klein 2007). Although the hurricane wreaked havoc and revealed existing weaknesses in institutional systems of care, communities have responded with consideration, empathy, and generosity. Investigating what new systems and landscapes of care emerge or are shed light on through this situation is imperative. How are communities and institutions engaging with landscapes ravaged by flooding in order to produce and enact care? How has the conversation about housing shifted, now that the unhoused community has grown in the area? In order to fully understand how communication acts as a form of care in the recent past (pre-Hurricane) and as a response to urgent effects of climate crisis, I use feminist and linguistic anthropological perspectives on care and landscapes of care to analyze the webs of organization and care across different communities in Western North Carolina, and discuss what futures of collective care can look like across reimagined therapeutic landscapes.
Lauren L. Taylor, "Intersecting resilience: a model of Disaster Racism, Intersectionality and Social Capital"
This paper presents the development of a theoretical model that integrates disaster racism, intersectionality, and social capital to enhance understanding of resilience and recovery following wildfires, with a specific focus on Lahaina, HI. As wildfires increasingly threaten communities, particularly BIPOC and NBPOC populations, it is essential to examine how these intersecting frameworks inform disaster preparedness and recovery outcomes. By synthesizing insights from existing literature and preliminary observations, this study explores the dynamics of how social identities and capital influence vulnerability and resilience in disaster contexts. The model posits that disaster racism exacerbates the challenges faced by marginalized communities, while intersectionality reveals the complexity of identities that shape individual and collective responses to disasters. Social capital is examined as a potential resource for recovery, illustrating how community networks can either mitigate or amplify disparities. Through this theoretical framework, the paper seeks to provide a nuanced perspective on community dynamics in disaster scenarios, emphasizing the necessity for equitable policy interventions tailored to the unique needs of vulnerable populations. This exploration aims to inform scholars and practitioners, highlighting the importance of an inclusive approach in disaster management and resilience planning.
