The question of what a disaster actually is is easily answered by those directly affected. Even in the academic discussion, disasters are usually conceived of as clearly defined entities which have distinct causes and effects. Such a perspective, however, easily loses sight of the iterative quality of disastrous events as well as of the social constitutedness of disasters, which are recognized as such only through interpretive procedures. Moreover, as an inter-subjective social reality they are constituted through communicative practices alone. The research group will focus on precisely this dynamic and discursive quality of disasters by concentrating several disciplinary approaches. This course of action will be grounded in the cooperation between scholars from the natural and social sciences, humanities and information technology as well as in close exchange with practitioners from various fields. In doing so, our attention will centre on the communicative processes which accompany, frame or even produce disasters. As a heuristics for our endeavour, we intend to concentrate on the temporal dimension of the communicative processes within and in the context of disasters. These comprise situational dynamics (e.g. of alarming, mobilizing, or coordination of assistance) as well as cyclical sequences (e.g. of evaluation, reorganization and re-normalization). Special attention will be given to the questions of (1) how the presence and live coverage through mass media influence the dynamics of disasters, and (2) in which ways the usage of new information technologies changes disaster communication at different levels. These communicative processes will be studied both empirically, drawing on data introduced by group members, and theoretically, by integrating diverse disciplinary perspectives. A range of innovative working formats and communication media will ensure regular exchange between researchers and grant access to relevant results to the public.
Closing Conference
„Dealing with the Disasters of Others"
Date: January 26 - 28, 2012
Convenors: Jörg Bergmann (Bielefeld), Heike Egner (Klagenfurt), Volker Wulf (Siegen)
(Details & Program)
