Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast

In this episode we welcome anthropologist Raja Swamy (University of Tennessee), author of Capitalism and Catastrophe. Swamy argues that “disaster” is flexible and is often misframed as a discrete event rather than a long process, urging disaster studies to interrogate the boundary between disaster and “normal” conditions. He emphasizes how pre-disaster struggles—poverty, eviction, austerity, displ...

We open Season 11 of Disasters Deconstructed, with Ksenia and Jason explaining the season’s focus on the politics of disasters and outlining a split release schedule (five episodes over the next two months, a summer break, then six episodes from late September, with a possible Christmas special). They briefly reflect on Season 10’s link to the forthcoming edited volume Contemplating Catastrophe, c...

Episode overview The Season 10 finale welcomes disaster anthropologist Susanna Hoffman, who wrote the preface to the hosts' forthcoming edited volume, Contemplating Catastrophe. Drawing on a career spanning cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and literature, the episode reflects on the depth of culture in disaster studies, the limits of narrow disciplinary silos, and what the field ne...

Episode overview Episode 10 continues the season's regional focus with a conversation grounded in India and the wider Global South, bringing together a scholar of gender, trauma, and displacement and a development researcher working across climate change, migration, and disasters. The episode explores how literature, capability theory, and self-reflective practice reshape how disaster scholars und...

Episode overview Episode 9 turns to South and Southeast Asia, bringing together an early-career gender and disaster risk scholar and a senior interdisciplinary disaster governance scientist. Drawing on postcolonial theory, hybridity, and the politics of knowledge production, the episode examines how colonial legacies continue to structure vulnerability, gender exclusion, and state power in the reg...

Episode overview Episode 8 continues Season 10’s regional focus by turning to Southeast Asia, with a conversation centered on the Philippines and Vietnam. This episode brings together political sociology, disaster mental health, Buddhism, and grassroots practice to examine disasters as products of political systems, colonial legacies, and relational breakdowns—and to explore what engaged, justice-...

Episode overview Episode 7 continues Season 10’s regional focus with an in-depth conversation on Japan. Drawing on political theory, radical history, and long-term engagement with disaster-affected communities, the episode examines how Japanese intellectual traditions—often overlooked in disaster studies—help illuminate power, vulnerability, governance, and the social contracts that underpin disas...

Episode overview Episode 6 marks a shift in Season 10 from thematic conversations to regional perspectives, focusing on Latin America (and the Caribbean) as rich sites of critical disaster thinking. The episode foregrounds intellectual traditions that challenge Eurocentric assumptions in disaster studies and emphasizes plurality, dialogue, and the politics of knowledge production. Hosts Jason von...

Episode overview Episode 5 centers Black power and Black scholarship as foundational to understanding disasters, vulnerability, resistance, and justice. Through a wide-ranging conversation grounded in lived experience, political struggle, and long-term community engagement, the episode examines how Black intellectual traditions reshape how disasters are understood, studied, and responded to. Hosts...

Episode overview Episode 4 turns to anarchism as a lens for rethinking disasters, governance, and collective action. Through a rich conversation grounded in political theory, history, and pacifism, the episode explores how anarchist ideas—particularly mutual aid, nonviolence, and suspicion of centralized authority—offer critical insights into disaster risk, response, and recovery. Hosts Jason von...

Episode overview Episode 3 expands Season 10’s exploration of Contemplating Catastrophe with a wide-ranging conversation on urbanism, technology, space, and time. The episode brings together historical, geographical, and critical perspectives to examine how disasters are produced, anticipated, governed, and lived—often long before any so-called “event” occurs. Hosts Jason von Meding Ksenia Chmutin...

Episode overview Episode 2 continues Season 10’s thematic journey with a focused conversation on feminism and disaster studies. The discussion explores how feminist thinking reshapes disaster scholarship and practice, challenges dominant canons, and opens space for listening, care, solidarity, and justice-oriented research. Hosts Jason von Meding Ksenia Chmutina Guests Kaira Zoe Alburo-Cañete — Fi...

Episode overview Season 10 opens with a live conversation setting the intellectual frame for a new series built around Contemplating Catastrophe, an edited collection of short essays engaging thinkers outside conventional disaster studies. The episode reflects on why reading beyond the field matters, how theory reshapes practice, and why eclectic, critical scholarship is essential for the future o...

Sajag-Nepal's "Notes from the Field" is a three-episode podcast for "Disasters: Deconstructed" This special episode will introduce listeners to the work and scope of the "Sajag-Nepal: Planning and Preparedness for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain in Nepal" project. Most importantly it will explore Sajag-Nepal project’s approaches to interdisciplinary and intercultural research on multi-hazards a...

Sajag-Nepal's "Notes from the Field" is a three-episode podcast for "Disasters: Deconstructed" This special episode will introduce listeners to the work and scope of the "Sajag-Nepal: Planning and Preparedness for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain in Nepal" project. Most importantly it will explore Sajag-Nepal project’s approaches to interdisciplinary and intercultural research on multi-hazards a...

Sajag-Nepal's "Notes from the Field" is a three-episode podcast for "Disasters: Deconstructed" This special episode will introduce listeners to the work and scope of the "Sajag-Nepal: Planning and Preparedness for the Mountain Hazard and Risk Chain in Nepal" project. Most importantly it will explore Sajag-Nepal project’s approaches to interdisciplinary and intercultural research on multi-hazards a...

Welcome to the final part of our Disasters: Deconstructed mini-series from Fishlake, UK! Thank you so much to Dave Angel for producing this wonderful local artifact, and sharing his creative process with us. I hope you all are inspired as much as we are!!    Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DisastersDecon Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!    F...

We are back with Dave Angel for the second episode of our Disasters: Deconstructed mini-series from Fishlake, UK. Thanks for joining us!    Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DisastersDecon Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!    Further information: Dave Angel’s contact: d.angel@lboro.ac.uk   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-angel-5444a6...

Welcome to the first episode of our Disasters: Deconstructed mini-series from Fishlake, UK. Your host for this series is Dave Angel, a musician-composer who has spent most of his life in the area. The series draws on his PhD work "‘Effing Awful!’: Deep, Dirty, Dangerous Water. Developing an audio representational method to develop empathy around post-flood experiences in two South Yorkshire villag...

Happy New Year and welcome back for Season 9 of Disasters: Deconstructed!!!  We can't wait to spend time with you again - or for the first time - as we explore why disasters really happen.  This season we will be exploring local stories through 3 mini-series from around the world. Tune in to hear more about what we have in store :)   Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DisastersDecon Rat...

We really appreciate you all tuning in for Season 8 of Disasters: Deconstructed! In this Season Wrap we look back at some of the best bits from our discussions and the key themes emerging. Join us again in a few months for Season 9 when we concentrate on local stories from communities living with risk around the world    Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DisastersDecon Rate and Review...

Thanks everyone for joining us this season! We have really enjoyed speaking with our incredible guests who taught us about solidarity from so many angles. This is our penultimate episode, and we are super excited to spend it with our season 4 co-host, Darien Alexander Williams! Since he was last on the podcast, Darien completed his doctorate and is an incoming Assistant Prof. at Boston University....

Today we welcome indie singer/songwriter David Rovics to Disasters: Deconstructed! David has produced an incredible body of anti-capitalist and community-grounded work, emerging as a prominent social critic on issues that we care about on DD, militarism, globalisation, environmental crisis, consumerism and gentrification. In this episode we talk about how music can bring people together in struggl...

Welcome back to Disasters: Deconstructed! Today A.J. Faas is joining us to discuss his new book, In the Shadow of Tungurahua, and how some of its key themes link to our season on solidarity. We consider minga, deservingness, and vulnerability - thanks for joining us!    Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @DisastersDecon Rate and Review on Apple Podcasts Subscribe wherever you get your po...

   في هذه الحلقة نواصل مناقشتنا (بالعربية) حول الزلزال المدمر الذي ضرب تركيا وسوريا في فبراير 2023. نتحدث عن آخر الإحصائيات والتحديثات حول الكارثة ، ونناقش مواضيع مهمة مثل انتشار المعلومات كاذبة في أوقات الكوارث. بالإضافة إلى ذلك ، نشرح كيف يمكن للناس معرفة ما إذا كانت منازلهم مصممةضد مثل هذه المخاطر الطبيعية ، ونقدم المشورة للأشخاص الذين يرغبون في بناء أو شراء منازل جديدة في هذا الصدد.   In this...