Full Description
The Asian tsunami in December 2004 severely affected people in coastal regions all around the Indian Ocean. This book provides the first in-depth ethnography of the disaster and its effects on a fishing village in Tamil Nadu, India. The author explores how the villagers have lived with the tsunami in the years succeeding it and actively worked to gradually regain a sense of certainty and confidence in their environment in the face of disempowering disaster. What appears is a remarkable local recovery process in which the survivors have interwoven the tsunami and the everyday in a series of subtle practices and theorisations, resulting in a complex and continuous recreation of village life. By showing the composite nature of the tsunami as an event, the book adds new theoretical insight into the anthropology of natural disaster and recovery.
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Processing Disaster and Recovery
The Disaster and the Everyday
Local Worlds and Recovery
Figure and Ground in Disaster Anthropology
Transformation and Future Trajectories
Book Outline
Chapter 2. The Field: Entrance and Emergence
Arrival
Emergent Fields
Mapping Place and People
Fieldwork on Foot
A Walk around the Village
The Lay of the Land
Chapter 3. The Dwelling: Homes and Hazards
Build Back Better
Bereavement and Moving on
Homing In
Chapter 4. On Forecasting: Wind and Water
Weather or Not
The Landfall of Disaster
Dropping the Anchor
Forecasts and Precautions
In a Climate of Changing Tides
Chapter 5. Responsibility: Agents and Agencies
Local Level Humanitarian Support
On the Limits of Community
Recuperating Subjects
Chapter 6. Confusing Hardships: Onslaught and Opportunity
In Need of Repair
Certifying the Future
The Ties That Bind
Rallying for Safety
Projecting Progress
Chapter 7. Materialisations of Loss: Monument and Memory
Monumental Memories
The Materiality of Loss
On New Plots
Chapter 8. Everyday Life: Tsunami Time
Bibliography
Index
