Ambivalence towards discourse of disaster resilience

Ruszczyk, H.A.

Abstract

This paper investigates empirically how the international aid community (IAC)—donors and practitioners—considers and implements disaster resilience in a specific country setting, Nepal, and throughout the rest of the world. A key finding is that there is ambivalence about a concept that has become a discourse. On a global level, the IAC utilises the discourse of resilience in a cautiously positive manner as a bridging concept. On a national level, it is being used to influence the Government of Nepal, as well as serving as an operational tool of donors. The mythical resilient urban community is fashioned in the IAC's imaginary; understanding how people create communities and what type of linkages with government urban residents desire to develop their resilience strategies is missing, though, from the discussion. Disaster resilience can be viewed as another grand plan to enhance the lives of people. Yet, regrettably, an explicit focus on individuals and their communities is lost in the process.

Citation

Ruszczyk, H. (2019). Ambivalence towards discourse of disaster resilience. Disasters, 43(4), 818-839. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12385

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 7, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jul 19, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 7, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 24, 2019
• Journal: Disasters
• Print ISSN: 0361-3666
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-7717
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 818-839
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12385
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1349729