Dear colleagues,

Please find below the call for papers for a workshop on ‘Disasters –
Mobility – Communications: Exploring the Links’ to be held 16-17 May,
2011 in Bielefeld. The workshop is being organised as an activity of the
research group 'Communicating Disaster' at the Center for
Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/(en)/ZIF/FG/2010CommunicatingDisaster/.

Abstracts of up to 300-400 words should be submitted by 31st January
2011. Apologies for this short notice.

Please circulate this notice as appropriate. For further information
please contact Katharina Inhetveen [log in to unmask]

Please send all replies to: [log in to unmask]

Oliver Bakewell (Oxford) [log in to unmask]
Katharina Inhetveen (München) [log in to unmask]
Andreas Pott (Osnabrück) [log in to unmask]

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Call for Papers ‘Disasters – Mobility – Communications: Exploring the
Links’ Workshop at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research
Bielefeld/Germany, 16-17 May, 2011

Oliver Bakewell (Oxford), Katharina Inhetveen (München), Andreas Pott
(Osnabrück)

Disasters are almost invariably associated with an increase in mobility.
On the one hand, those living in the area directly affected by the
disaster are confronted with decisions about whether to stay or to leave
the disaster site; and if they go, they have to decide when, where and
with whom to go, how long to stay away, and how to keep contact and stay
informed about the changing conditions at their home. These necessary
decisions are far more complex than the seemingly self-evident, often
taken-for-granted urge to run away from disaster.

On the other hand, disasters usually stimulate socio-political responses
from the humanitarian regime which entails movement towards the disaster
site. A wide range of actors including government departments, aid
agencies (including national and international NGOs and UN agencies),
donors and media organizations face decisions about how far they should
immerse themselves in the disaster.

Should they decide to do so, their responses regularly include goals and
strategies concerned with the mobility of the disaster ‘victims’: the
affected population is to be evacuated, to be made to leave, to be made
to stay; people are to be channelled to certain sites, to be kept away
from others, to be hosted and controlled in shelters, to be relocated
temporarily or permanently, avoiding or gradually leading to migration
processes.

It is clear then that disasters almost inevitably entail making mobility
decisions. However, these decisions not only deal with enabling
movement: efforts to manage disaster-related mobility typically involve
processes of immobilization as well. Where mobility occurred in largely
unproblematic, unreflected ways before a disaster, it may be addressed
as a problem, controlled, and regulated afterwards. Mobilization and
immobilization in the wake of disasters can be considered as two aspects
of the socio-political processes of organizing and ordering mobility.

These processes of decision making about mobility rest on the exchange
of information between different actors and across space. Those directly
affected by the disaster need rapidly to activate their local, national
and transnational networks in order to identify their options for moving
and to mobilize the necessary resources. Information about their
mobility – how many go and where they move to – is an essential
ingredient for the decision making of humanitarian actors responding to
the disaster. Moreover, part of their response is likely to involve
developing communication strategies to control mobility – to persuade
people to leave or go to particular places.

In the light of these observations, this workshop aims to explore the
relationship between the flow of information and the flows of people
during disasters. To date, such issues have largely been dealt with by
practitioners, but we are especially interested in perspectives from
various academic disciplines. We invite the submission of papers or
ideas for common discussion addressing empirical and theoretical
questions –for example:

  * How do those affected by disaster make decisions about mobility, and
in what ways are decisions negotiated or made for them by disaster
response agencies or political bodies?

  * Are there typical process-related trajectories of decision making,
including revisions and modifications of mobility decisions? Which
significant contexts and constraints can be identified by following up
these trajectories of mobility and/or migration decisions in a
processual perspective?

  * How do communications between disaster response agencies on the one
hand and those directly affected on the other hand influence observable
practices of mobility in the wake of disaster?

  * What are the assumptions and constructions – such as mappings,
interpretations of help and disaster, perceptions of mobility and
sedentary belonging – that are underlying organizational plans and
institutionalized practices of mobilization and immobilization,
including evacuation, sheltering, channelling flight routes, or
organized return?

  * Which actual mobility routes and practices occur from the interplay
between the interpretations of those who are directly affected, the
interpretations of the agencies of disaster response, and the
interpretations conveyed by the media? Which effects arise from the
differences in power and resources that exist between the disaster
response and humanitarian aid regimes versus those affected by disaster?

The workshop will take place in the context of the research group
Communicating Disaster at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research
(ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany. The research group, which is working over
the course of one academic year, focuses on the dynamic and discursive
quality of disasters by bringing together several disciplinary
approaches. For further information on the research group see:

http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/(en)/ZIF/FG/2010CommunicatingDisaster/

The organizers of the workshop ‘Disasters – Mobility – Communications:
Exploring the Links’ ask for the submission of abstracts (300 to 400
words) until 31 January, 2011. Please send your abstract to the
convenors at the following email addresses (simultaneously):

Oliver Bakewell: [log in to unmask]

Katharina Inhetveen: [log in to unmask]

Andreas Pott: [log in to unmask]

--
Prof. Dr. Katharina Inhetveen
Institut für Soziologie
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Konradstr. 6
D-80801 München
Tel.: ++49-(0)89-2180-6315 (Sekretariat -2951)
Email: [log in to unmask]

__________

Dr Oliver Bakewell
Senior Research Officer and James Martin Fellow
[log in to unmask]

http://www.imi.ox.ac.uk/
International Migration Institute
Department of International Development
Queen Elizabeth House
University of Oxford
3 Mansfield Road
Oxford
OX1 3TB
UK

Phone +44 (0) 1865 271902
Fax +44 (0) 1865 2818001

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Prof. Dr. Andreas Pott
Institut für Geographie /
IMIS, Direktor
Universität Osnabrück
49069 Osnabrück
Tel.: 0541-969-4890 (Sekr.: -4267)
Fax: 0541-969-4333
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]

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