Sara Bondesson

This book taps into discussions about social vulnerability, empowerment, and resistance in relation to disaster relief and recovery. It disentangles tensions and dilemmas within post-disaster empowerment, through a rich ethnographic narrative of the work of Occupy Sandy in Rockaway, New York City, after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It details both a remarkable collaborative relief phase, in which marginalized communities were empowered to take active part, as well as a phase of conflict and resistance that came about as relief turned to long-term recovery. This volume particularly aims to understand how community empowerment processes can breach pre-disaster marginalization in the aftermath of disasters. It connects with broader emancipatory literature on dilemmas involved in empowerment ‘from the outside’. In a future of potentially harsher climate related disasters and increased social vulnerability for certain communities, this book contributes to a full and nuanced understanding of community empowerment and vulnerability reduction. This book will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, and urban studies researchers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in disaster management, disaster risk reduction, social vulnerability, community empowerment, development studies, local studies, social work, community-based work, and emancipatory theory.

This book taps into discussions about social vulnerability, empowerment, and resistance in relation to disaster relief and recovery. It disentangles tensions and dilemmas within post-disaster empowerment, through a rich ethnographic narrative of the work of Occupy Sandy in Rockaway, New York City, after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. It details both a remarkable collaborative relief phase, in which marginalized communities were empowered to take active part, as well as a phase of conflict and resistance that came about as relief turned to long-term recovery. This volume particularly aims to understand how community empowerment processes can breach pre-disaster marginalization in the aftermath of disasters. It connects with broader emancipatory literature on dilemmas involved in empowerment ‘from the outside’. In a future of potentially harsher climate related disasters and increased social vulnerability for certain communities, this book contributes to a full and nuanced understanding of community empowerment and vulnerability reduction. This book will be of interest to sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, and urban studies researchers, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in disaster management, disaster risk reduction, social vulnerability, community empowerment, development studies, local studies, social work, community-based work, and emancipatory theory.

I Att samverka i kris möter vi människor som i akuta krissituationer ställs inför olika samarbetsproblem och dilemman. Deras historier berättas i skönlitterär form och illustrerar inlevelsefullt mellanmänskligt samspel i krislägen. Berättelserna levandegör de efterföljande analyserna och teoretiskt förankrade resonemangen där författarna kartlägger och belyser problematik och trångmål som uppstår under kritiska omständigheter. Stoffet i skildringarna är empiriskt material från verkliga situationer som terrordåd och skogsbränder, och författarna har lagt sig vinn om att på ett pedagogiskt sätt visa på de utmaningar som kan uppstå vid samverkan i krissituationer. De analyserar händelseförloppen med hjälp av forskningsrön och beskriver också det svenska förvaltningssystemets betydelse för respektive krissituation. På så vis får läsaren även med sig kunskaper om det svenska krisberedskapssystemet. Boken lämpar sig för studenter, yrkesverksamma och andra med intresse för krishantering, krisberedskap och samverkan.