Catastrophes across Cultures: The Anthropology of Disaster

Harvard FAS

What is the relationship between “catastrophe” and human beings, and how has “catastrophe” influenced the way we live in the world now? This course investigates various types of catastrophes/disasters (i.e., earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, oil and chemical spills, wars, nuclear disasters, climate change, etc.) around the world (Chornobyl, England, India, Haiti, Japan, Lisbon, New Zealand, U.S., etc.) by mobilizing a variety of theoretical frameworks and case studies in the social sciences.…