Call for Papers
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG)
Tampa, Florida, April 8-12, 2014
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THIRD SECTOR ORGANISATIONS TO LANDSCAPES OF POST-DISASTER RECOVERY
Session organisers:
Paul Cloke, University of Exeter, UK
David Conradson, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
In the aftermath of a disaster, many different types of organisation become involved in the recovery process. Government agencies of various kinds – including civil defence and emergency management authorities, city planners and social security providers – may issue edicts, circulate information and distribute resources. Businesses typically play a prominent role in reconstruction and repair efforts, providing employment and perhaps also investment opportunities. Third sector organisations (TSOs) often seek to assist the most-impacted citizens and communities, whilst contesting various forms of injustice and inequity. Motivated by particular social and environmental imperatives, TSOs thus play a key role in many landscapes of post-disaster recovery.
This session focuses on the role of third sector organisations (TSOs) in post-disaster recovery, with a particular interest in the “mid-range” period beyond immediate and emergency responses. We understand third sector organisations as non-profit distributing entities that are (a) institutionally distinct from government and (b) typically engaged in addressing particular social or environmental issues (Corry, 2010; Salamon and Anheier, 1997).
We welcome papers and presentations that engage with the following questions and/or related issues:
• In what ways do TSOs contribute to the process of post-disaster recovery? In particular, how do they intervene in landscapes of psychological despondency and diminished hope, as well as addressing social, economic and environmental need?
• What functions are TSOs carrying out in post-disaster arenas? In particular, how are they responding to the needs of marginalised people, both those who were recognised as being marginalised before the disaster, and those who have been marginalised by the disaster?
• How are the activities of TSOs shaped by the activities and regulatory apparatus of the state, and by the profit imperatives of private businesses? What lines of flight emerge through TSO activity that might alter the nature of post-disaster responses?
• To what extent do TSOs exhibit characteristics of emergent post-secularity – that is a degree of rapprochement between faith-motivated and other groups – in their responses to pressing social and ethical issues?
• What are the political dimensions of TSO activity in the post-disaster context? Beyond their material welfare aims, what political advocacy roles are TSOs playing? How might we best theorise and assess the political significance of TSO efforts and interventions?
• In what ways do TSOs activities result in socially differentiated impacts? To what extent are these organisations inclusive and/or exclusive of particular groups? In what ways are such differentiations codified or performed, and in what ways do care and service lead to empowerment or dependency?
• What evidence of best practice from TSO activity in particular settings might be transferable to other disaster-response arenas?
Please email an abstract (250 words maximum) and/or expression of interest to Paul Cloke ([log in to unmask]) and David Conradson ([log in to unmask]) by **Thursday 7th November, 2013**.
Successful submissions will be confirmed by mid November and presenters will then need to register and submit their abstracts online at the AAG website by Friday 22nd November 2013 latest. See http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/register
References
Corry, O. (2010). Defining and theorizing the third sector. In Taylor, Rupert (ed). Third Sector Research. London, UK and New York, USA: Springer, pp. 11–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5707-8_2
Salamon, L. M., and Anheier, H. K. (1997). The third world’s third sector in comparative perspective. Working papers of The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, no. 24, The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Baltimore, MD. http://www.adm-cf.com/jhu/pdfs/CNP_Working_Papers/CNP_WP24.pdf
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