When applied anthropology becomes aid - A disaster anthropologist’s thoughts

In Anthropology News November, Susanna M Hoffman (co-editor of Catastrophe and Culture: The Anthropology of Disaster) rises the question how anthropologists could help people who are ravaged by the recent hurricanes:

Disasters and their effects on culture and society have been largely disregarded by anthropologists. (...) In the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, another aspect of anthropology, also often ignored, rises to the forefront, or should rise. That is, what we can do to help people who are ravaged.

This is the area of our study usually called applied anthropology, but in such cases as Katrina and Rita, becomes, in fact, aid. We are the sort who participate directly with people in such a way that we might learn what survivors actually want and work to provide it. I not only suggest that we incorporate the effects of disaster into our studies, but I also implore that if anyone should converge after such a calamity, it should be us.

>> read the whole article

MORE DISASTER ANTHROPOLOGY IN ANTHROPOLOGY NEWS NOVEMBER:

SherriLynn Colby-Bottel: Doing Anthropology in New Orleans, Before and After Katrina

Dick Gould: Identifying Victims after a Disaster

Gary M Feinman and Christopher T Fisher: The Dangers of Ignoring the Evidence. Hurricanes, Hazards and Survival

SEE ALSO:

Anthropology News October: How Anthropologists Can Respond to Disasters

New website: Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

The Anthropology of Disaster - Anthropologists on Katrina