Disasters and indigenous peoples

A critical discourse analysis of the expert news media

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4464481
AutoresAnuszka Mosurska (0000-0002-7893-9224, University of Leeds, autor de correspondencia), Aaron Clark‐ginsberg (0000-0002-4283-0788, RAND Corporation), A Clark-Ginsberg, Susannah M Sallu (0000-0002-1471-2485), Sallu, James D Ford (0000-0002-2066-3456, University of Leeds), Jd Ford
Año2023
Volumen6
Número1
Páginas178-201
Fecha de publicación2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEnvironment and Planning E Nature and Space (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2514-8486 • E-ISSN: 2514-8494
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/25148486221096371
OpenAlexW4280538483
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas102

Attempts to shift the ways disasters have traditionally been managed away from authoritarian, top-down approaches toward more bottom-up and inclusive processes often involve incorporating viewpoints from marginalised and vulnerable groups. Recently as part of this process, there have been calls for greater inclusion of Indigenous peoples in disaster management. In theory, this also suggests a shift in power structures, towards recognising Indigenous peoples as experts in disaster management. However, in popular imagination and policy Indigenous peoples often appear to be caricatured and misrepresented, for instance through tropes of Indigenous peoples as custodians of the environment or especially vulnerable to environmental change. These framings matter because they can result in disaster management policies and practices that do not capture Indigenous peoples' complex realities. However, these framings have not been analysed in the context of disasters. In this article, we aim to better understand these framings through a critical discourse analysis of how Indigenous peoples in disasters are represented in the expert news media. We identify five discourses, including a dominant one of disasters as natural phenomena to be addressed through humanitarianism and technocratic interventions. Such discourses render Indigenous peoples helpless, depoliticize disasters and are justified by framing governments and NGOs as caring for Indigenous peoples. However, we also identify competing discourses that focus on systems of oppression and self-determination in disaster management. These discourse recognise disasters as political and include discussion of the role of colonialism in disaster creation. As care emerged as a means through which intervention was justified, we conclude by asking questions of who is cared for/about in disasters and how that care is performed

Environmental ethics · Framing (construction · Geography · Indigenous · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Disaster Management and Resilience · Law · Risk Perception and Management