Place and Displacement: Disasters, Housing, and Survival

Presentation Location

David Student Union: Jefferson Room

Document Type

Event

Start Date

15-3-2024 8:30 AM

End Date

15-3-2024 10:00 AM

Description

(Md Asaduzzaman, Session Chair)

  • Yadong Li (Tulane University). Talking about a Disaster Year: Entanglements of Disaster, Politics, and Morality in the Chinese Conspiratorial Milieu
    In China, disaster has long been a political issue, attaching to moral crises and the governors’ misdeeds. Since modern times, China’s political and cultural authorities have, at least ostensibly, sought to disentangle disaster from politics and morality, for the purpose of achieving better governance over these realms. Yet, on the one hand, by analyzing the discussions of a “disaster year” (zai nian) among Chinese conspiracy theorists, it appears that the separation is far from being achieved; disaster is still a political metaphor and a trigger of moral panic. On the other hand, based on an analysis of the disaster-related propaganda, this study suggests that the entanglement also stems from a disparity in the Chinese party-state’s behaviors: while separating the disaster from politics through acts such as debunking, the state simultaneously emphasizes the positive role it played in controlling disasters to present regime accountability and legitimacy. To conclude, though the connection between disaster and politics is no longer manifested primarily in the forms of divination and prophecy, taking disaster as an entry point allows researchers to grasp the complex cultural landscape in contemporary China, in which nature and culture, science and superstition, politics and morality are interconnected rather than separated.
  • Lennin Caro (Camino Research Institute). “Es Un Barrio Tranquilo”: Results from a Community Driven Housing Survey and Photovoice Study in Huntersville, NC
    Huntington Green is a predominantly Latino mobile home community located in Huntersville, a suburban town in the northern part of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. To better understand the experiences of community members, Caterpillar ministries, a local nonprofit based in Huntington Green, collaborated with Camino Research Institute, a local nonprofit subsidiary dedicated to conducting research with Latinos, to design and implement a mixed-methods study, which includes an electronic survey and photovoice. A total of 113 surveys were collected from Huntington Green residents; 87% of the sample are Latino. Survey results show 61% of respondents have issues related to housing, including issues with pests and mice, and problems with home appliances. Respondents most strongly approve of adding more trailer homes and 22 site-built single family homes and least approve of adding multi-family homes like duplexes and fourplexes. 41% reported fear of being pushed out of the Huntington Green community mostly due to the increasing cost of rent. Respondents most commonly indicated the need to improve the overall safety of the community and address issues related to environmental pollution. Preliminary results of the photo voice study reinforce these findings; neighborhood issues related to safety, pollution, and infrastructure were highlighted by participant photos.
  • Kaitlyn Sisco (University of Mississippi). “Everything is Limited and Fragile”: Displacement-in-Place in a Patagonian Villa
    The small Patagonian town of El Chaltén, Argentina, exists on the outskirts of the Southern Patagonian Icefield and in the heart of Los Glaciers National Park. Though an aesthetic ecotourism hub, El Chaltén’s idyllic landscape is overshadowed by environmental degradation and residential crises. Drawing upon feminist political ecology approaches, this paper investigates the power structures and social inequalities operative in El Chaltén’s housing and land crises as they produce vulnerability. I argue that El Chaltén is defined by the condition of displacement-in-place. The concept of displacement-in-place advances through five key factors: 1) a legally-bounded urban ejido; 2) inattentive local and provincial governance; 3) the Consejo Agrario Provincial’s opaque decision-making process about land allocation; 4) the constraints of the tourism industry; and 5) landlord practices perceived as unethical. The housing and land crises in El Chaltén are registered by subaltern populations through discourses of vulnerability attentive to existing structures of inequality. Displacement-in-place is felt most intensely at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Based on ethnographic research, this study contributes to current debates on displacement and resource extractivism in the global South.
  • Md Asaduzzaman (Arizona State University). Lost in Limbo: Rootlessness, Suffering, and Health Outcomes of Rohingya Refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
    This study explores the impact of rootlessness on the indigenous healing practices of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, they reside in refugee camps, and traditional healing practices are significant in their healthcare-seeking behavior. The study used a phenomenological approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of Rohingya refugees related to their indigenous healing practices. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 Rohingya refugees living in refugee camps. The findings suggest the need for culturally sensitive healthcare services and responsive to the unique healthcare-seeking behavior of the Rohingya refugees. Lost in Limbo: Rootlessness, suffering, and health outcomes of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

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Mar 15th, 8:30 AM Mar 15th, 10:00 AM

Place and Displacement: Disasters, Housing, and Survival

David Student Union: Jefferson Room

(Md Asaduzzaman, Session Chair)

  • Yadong Li (Tulane University). Talking about a Disaster Year: Entanglements of Disaster, Politics, and Morality in the Chinese Conspiratorial Milieu
    In China, disaster has long been a political issue, attaching to moral crises and the governors’ misdeeds. Since modern times, China’s political and cultural authorities have, at least ostensibly, sought to disentangle disaster from politics and morality, for the purpose of achieving better governance over these realms. Yet, on the one hand, by analyzing the discussions of a “disaster year” (zai nian) among Chinese conspiracy theorists, it appears that the separation is far from being achieved; disaster is still a political metaphor and a trigger of moral panic. On the other hand, based on an analysis of the disaster-related propaganda, this study suggests that the entanglement also stems from a disparity in the Chinese party-state’s behaviors: while separating the disaster from politics through acts such as debunking, the state simultaneously emphasizes the positive role it played in controlling disasters to present regime accountability and legitimacy. To conclude, though the connection between disaster and politics is no longer manifested primarily in the forms of divination and prophecy, taking disaster as an entry point allows researchers to grasp the complex cultural landscape in contemporary China, in which nature and culture, science and superstition, politics and morality are interconnected rather than separated.
  • Lennin Caro (Camino Research Institute). “Es Un Barrio Tranquilo”: Results from a Community Driven Housing Survey and Photovoice Study in Huntersville, NC
    Huntington Green is a predominantly Latino mobile home community located in Huntersville, a suburban town in the northern part of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. To better understand the experiences of community members, Caterpillar ministries, a local nonprofit based in Huntington Green, collaborated with Camino Research Institute, a local nonprofit subsidiary dedicated to conducting research with Latinos, to design and implement a mixed-methods study, which includes an electronic survey and photovoice. A total of 113 surveys were collected from Huntington Green residents; 87% of the sample are Latino. Survey results show 61% of respondents have issues related to housing, including issues with pests and mice, and problems with home appliances. Respondents most strongly approve of adding more trailer homes and 22 site-built single family homes and least approve of adding multi-family homes like duplexes and fourplexes. 41% reported fear of being pushed out of the Huntington Green community mostly due to the increasing cost of rent. Respondents most commonly indicated the need to improve the overall safety of the community and address issues related to environmental pollution. Preliminary results of the photo voice study reinforce these findings; neighborhood issues related to safety, pollution, and infrastructure were highlighted by participant photos.
  • Kaitlyn Sisco (University of Mississippi). “Everything is Limited and Fragile”: Displacement-in-Place in a Patagonian Villa
    The small Patagonian town of El Chaltén, Argentina, exists on the outskirts of the Southern Patagonian Icefield and in the heart of Los Glaciers National Park. Though an aesthetic ecotourism hub, El Chaltén’s idyllic landscape is overshadowed by environmental degradation and residential crises. Drawing upon feminist political ecology approaches, this paper investigates the power structures and social inequalities operative in El Chaltén’s housing and land crises as they produce vulnerability. I argue that El Chaltén is defined by the condition of displacement-in-place. The concept of displacement-in-place advances through five key factors: 1) a legally-bounded urban ejido; 2) inattentive local and provincial governance; 3) the Consejo Agrario Provincial’s opaque decision-making process about land allocation; 4) the constraints of the tourism industry; and 5) landlord practices perceived as unethical. The housing and land crises in El Chaltén are registered by subaltern populations through discourses of vulnerability attentive to existing structures of inequality. Displacement-in-place is felt most intensely at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Based on ethnographic research, this study contributes to current debates on displacement and resource extractivism in the global South.
  • Md Asaduzzaman (Arizona State University). Lost in Limbo: Rootlessness, Suffering, and Health Outcomes of Rohingya Refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
    This study explores the impact of rootlessness on the indigenous healing practices of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, they reside in refugee camps, and traditional healing practices are significant in their healthcare-seeking behavior. The study used a phenomenological approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of Rohingya refugees related to their indigenous healing practices. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 Rohingya refugees living in refugee camps. The findings suggest the need for culturally sensitive healthcare services and responsive to the unique healthcare-seeking behavior of the Rohingya refugees. Lost in Limbo: Rootlessness, suffering, and health outcomes of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.