“Historical disaster research from a cross-cultural perspective“

“Historical disaster research from a cross-cultural perspective“

PI: Gerrit Jasper Schenk Co-PI: Franz Mauelshagen Duration: 2005-2012

The objective of the scientific network was the historical analysis of disasters from a crosscultural perspective. The 12 members of the network were mainly historians of different ages and specializations as well as historically operating scientists from neighboring disciplines (Oriental studies, sinology, geography).

With disasters a phenomenon was in the center of the discourse that has attracted increasing attention from the societal and cultural-historical side in recent years. The focus was on disasters which have to do with geophysical, meteorological and climate-related natural dangers (earthquakes, storms, inundations, city fires, famines, etc.). The research results of the network and its guests released in three publications show that disasters as a formative element had an impact on societies and cultures, which developed specific models of interpretative, reactive and preventive handling of disasters (key word: cultures of disaster). In terms of a holistic approach, which considers the vulnerability of cultures and societies to be a result of complex historically induced relations at the interface of nature and culture, the attention was concentrated on culturally specific models of interpretation, management and prevention of disasters. Due to the thematization of the historicity of disasters, light was not only thrown on their destructive but also on their constructive effects. The types of handling dangers and disasters especially in view of repeated experience and expectation as agents of cultural transformation were focused on. Disasters are not only constructed in a social and cultural way, as the recent research emphasizes, but they have contributed to varying degrees to the construction of cultures and societies. Cultural and medially communicated individual and collective memories of disasters (memoria), specific local knowledge, practical experience and theory based analyses played different roles with regard to time and space, but a unique according to culture and society.

The range of ages and cultures investigated allowed to sharpen the view also with regard to recent problems of disaster management. Local knowledge and approved practices often remain unused which damages all parties involved. Historically operating scientists can thus even contribute to the understanding of recent problems and opportunities of disaster management by reconstructing historical disasters. This affects on the one hand a more detailed knowledge of i.e. danger zones (inundations, tsunamis, earthquakes) and above all more detailed orientation knowledge of the reasons for the vulnerability vs. resilience of societies with regard to natural disasters, which result from socio-cultural particularities of perception, interpretation and also the political, economic and technical management of disasters.