63-112 Responses to extreme events and disasters (engl.)

Instructors: Dr. Corinna de Guttry

Event type: Practical course/lab

Displayed in timetable as:

Hours per week: 2

Credits: 3,0

Language of instruction: German

Min. | Max. participants: 8 | 23

Comments/contents:
The common narrative characterizing disaster is the one on fatalities, numbers of infrastructures and properties affected, and the amount of dollars of damage. In this course we will go beyond these numbers and we will investigate the causes and consequences of extreme events and disasters from an integrative geographical perspective. This approach requires an in-depth understanding of the human-nature interactions at the basis of each disaster. We will analyse how extreme events become disasters, critically reflecting upon the definition of extreme as well as of disasters.

The course revolves around three modules: I) Before Disasters,II) During Disasters and III) After Disasters. The first module addresses the question of how people prepare from disasters as well as the cultural and historical frameworks of a disaster.  During the module “During disasters” the class will discuss how different types of extreme events and disasters pose different challenges to the society and which actors of the society responds to those challenges in short term. The third module “After Disasters” deals with the question on how the society responds to the disaster from a long term perspective and how signs of responses to disasters can be seen in the physical space.

Learning objectives:
The educational objectives of the course can be summarized in:

Ø  To provide space for a critical understanding of disasters and extreme events

Ø  To increase the knowledge of the students on the causes and consequences of disasters across time and space

Ø  To ensure skills to constructively read publications and research on disasters and on extreme events

Ø  To ensure that students understand the relationship between human-nature interactions and disasters.

Didactic concept:
In the first part of the course, students are required to actively participate in class discussions and text analysis.  In the second  and central part of the course students will be required to present their research to the class in form of a presentation or class discussion of a text or class activity (to be previously discussed with the course leader). Each student will be able to choose the case study - disaster he /she is interested in. At the end of the course each student will hand in a work with reflections on the lessons learned during the course and within the module assigned.

The language of the course is officially English, but depending on the composition of the group, written notes and oral comments in German will also be accepted.

 

Literature:
Cultures and disasters: Understanding cultural framings in disaster risk reduction (2014) by F. Krüger, G. Bankoff, T. Cannon, B. Orlowski, E.L.F. Schipper – Routledge

Learning and Calamities: Practices, Interpretations, Patterns (2015) by H. Egner, M. Schorch, M. Voss – Routledge

"The Monster Swallows You": Disaster Memory and Risk Culture in Western Europe, 1500 – 2000 (2011) by C. Pfister – Rachel Carson Center Perspectives