ANTHRO 1924 - Catastrophes across Cultures: The Anthropology of Disaster

Prof. Ryo Morimoto

M W 1:30-2:45pm

What is the relationship between “catastrophe” and human beings, and how has “catastrophe” influenced the way we live in the world now? This course investigates various types of catastrophes/disasters (i.e., earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, oil and chemical spills, wars, nuclear disasters, climate change, etc.) around the world (Chornobyl, England, India, Haiti, Japan, Lisbon, New Zealand, U.S., etc.) by mobilizing a variety of theoretical frameworks and case studies in the social sciences. The course uses an anthropological perspective as its principal lens to comparatively observe often forgotten historical calamities worldwide. The course is designed to explore the intersection between catastrophe and culture and how catastrophic events can be a window through which to analyze society critically and vice versa.