CFP: Minority Resiliency and the Legacy of Disaster

Call for Papers

Hello everyone. I hope all is well. I am pleased to attach the following call for papers for an edited volume, Minority Resiliency and the Legacy of Disaster, which DeMond Miller and I are editing. I hope that you will do two things: 1) consider submitting work and 2) broadcast the Call For Papers far and wide.

Dear social science and liberal arts research colleagues,

Call for manuscripts for a peer-reviewed book: Minority Resiliency and the Legacy of Disaster

Editors: Jason D. Rivera (Rowan University) and DeMond S. Miller (Rowan University).

Minority Resiliency and the Legacy of Disaster discusses race, class, ethnicity, nationality, and gender, and how these factors have affected people's relationships with the American government in the context of disasters. This edited volume will allow historians, public administration professionals and researchers, social scientists, and political scientists an opportunity to reflect on the experiences of Hispanic, African, Asian and Native Americans in the context of natural and technological disasters, and focus on how these experiences have impacted these groups' political, economic and social development in American society. The co-editors are experienced researchers in the effects of social characteristics and politics on the experiences of minorities in disaster recovery and relief. We feel that this text will help explain the development of certain minority/ethnic communities in the United States, and the way in which past and current disasters have impacted their development and vulnerability. There is currently a lack of comprehensive research on the way minority groups are adversely affected by disasters and the long-term impacts of these events on their social and political development. We believe that by developing a cross-comparative discussion on the way different American minority groups are affected, interact with government agencies in the midst of disasters, and how these groups individually cope with disaster emergency management officials, the government can more effectively deal with these groups in crisis situations. Moreover, we wish to shed light on the way natural phenomena have influenced and continue to influence the development of social minority groups within a developed country in an age when contemporary ideologies view social group development independent of the physical landscape, and based predominantly on economics and politics.

Chapter proposals about minority experiences in the context of natural and technological disasters and their impacts on minority group social, political and economic development are being accepted in the following four areas:

Hispanic Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans

Chapters should attempt to answer some of the following questions in the above areas:

How does the historical construction of race/ethnicity in the United States impact the way ethnic communities are responded to in a disaster?

How does race/ethnicity, as it is constructed in the United States, impact the way the officials respond to minority needs in disasters situations?

What are the current challenges, issues, and structural legal and cultural barriers that enable or constrain ethnic minorities in their struggle to access government assistance?

What historic and contemporary social, demographic, political and public policy trends impact the practice of civic-government interactions of those most vulnerable?

How have historical and contemporary disasters directly/indirectly impacted the economic, political, social and demographic presence of these groups in the greater American culture?

What are or have been the political, social, economic, and legal implications of the government's interaction with these groups during the occurrence of disasters?

How have these groups' experiences with natural disasters and the subsequent government response impacted their development?

A potential list of topics for all minority categories:

Diaspora

Issues of Native American Sovereignty and Disaster Mitigation/Response

Living in FEMA trailer communities

Economic Impacts of Disasters

Cultural Impacts of Disasters

Political (national and/or local) Impacts of Disasters

Social Capital and Rates of Recovery

Issues of Citizenship and Disaster Recovery/Response

Recovery and/or Response to Technological Disasters

Legal Issues

Race Relations

Identity

Childhood and Family Issues

Memory and Remembrance

Immigration and Demographic Shifts

Send a 3 - 5 page double-spaced chapter proposal by March 1, 2008 to:
Jason D. Rivera at riveraja@rowan.edu mailto riveraja(at)rowan.edu .

Invitations for full chapters will be sent by March 31, 2008. Chapter drafts (30-35 double-spaced) will be due July 1, 2008. This book is under advance contract with Edwin Mellen Press.