Handbook of Disaster Research

by W.A: Anderson (Foreword), P.J. Kennedy (Foreword), E. Ressler (Foreword)

This timely Handbook is based on the principle that disasters are social constructions and focuses on social science disaster research. It provides an interdisciplinary approach to disasters with theoretical, methodological, and practical applications. Attention is given to conceptual issues dealing with the concept "disaster" and to methodological issues relating to research on disasters. These include Geographic Information Systems as a useful research tool and its implications for future research. This seminal work is the first interdisciplinary collection of disaster research as it stands now while outlining how the field will continue to grow.

611 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2006

Reviews

[Judd Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can be difficult to review a massive tome like the 'Handbook of Disaster Research.' If long enough (this one clocks in at 611 pages), an edited volume will invariably have some good chapters and some insightful points. The HDR is no exception, with some chapters providing some really useful content (e.g., the methodological issues chapter is quite valuable, among others).

Yet, I don't think the real test of an edited volume is "are there some good things within it." Rather, edited volumes serve the purpose of /curating/ a field or area of study, scoping those issues that ought to be covered and seen as 'core,' providing a quick reference to essential ideas, making strategic choices about which voices ought to be amplified, and setting future directions for research. At the same time, handbooks need to be judicious and concise in their formulations, increasing the signal:noise ratio wherever possible.

In that sense, I'm not sure I can give this book quite as high a rating as I'd like to. There are some places where it falters on these more significant challenges:

- The vision of 'disaster research' presented within this book is highly US-centric and, even more so, focused on the DRC tradition out of the University of Delaware. Let me be clear: I think the DRC is an /exceptional/ shop that has done incredible work, and remains one of the leading global places do to disaster studies... but I do think that a handbook's job is to cast a much broader net in narrating and curating the field.

- Some of the chapters are less effective than they could be for a variety of reasons. It's not clear, for instance, what the unit of analysis is in the book and why the chapters were divvied up the way they were. A few - especially Perrow's wandering musings - are more predictable op-ed than syntheses of research or rigorous inquiry.

- It was unclear who the audience of the handbook was intended. The writing wasn't engaging enough (nor the organization appropriate) to using this as a student-level textbook. Yet, the chapters also started with a little too much fundamental review to be geared to disaster research practitioners themselves.

I'm hesitant of this review sounding too negative. The book contains a lot of valuable insights and useful chapters. Ultimately, though, it strikes me as a volume to be read as individual chapters as needed, rather than a strategic, field-guiding handbook.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

É interessante ver a perspectiva da sociologia sobre desastres. Eu como engenheiro, tenho uma abordagem muito mais pragmática. Entendo que o ponto de vista da sociologia é essencial.
Pontos negativos do livro são o fato de estar focado na realidade americana e já estar ultrapassado em termos de exemplos. O último desastre relevante usado como exemplo no livro foi o tsunami que atingiu o sudeste asiático, por exemplo.