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Sensing Disaster: Local Knowledge and Vulnerability in Oceania 2023
Sensing Disaster: Local Knowledge and Vulnerability in Oceania is a 2023 nonfiction book written by American anthropologist Matthew Lauer and published by University of California Press. The work draws from over ten years of ethnographic research to explore the 2007 Solomon Islands earthquake and tsunami that hit Simbo island. This event led to the complete evacuation of Simbo's inhabitants, even though there was no official warning system in place and no recent history of tsunamis among the locals. Lauer analyzes this case to challenge typical views of "Indigenous ecological knowledge," arguing these explanations fall short of describing how Simbo residents sensed and reacted to the disaster. He proposes rethinking such knowledge as a dynamic, context-based practice of "sensing" instead of static traditions passed down through generations.
Details
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- ISBN
- 9780520392076
- Pages
- 292
- Format
- Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book
