27 March 2017
According to a growing body of literature, the dangers and hazards that people around the world face in the 21st century are in many ways unparalleled. In order to confront these problems, there is a growing recognition that disasters and other social disruptions are cultural matters. This has stimulated research across the Asia-Pacific on the cultural determinants and consequences of disasters. However, the extent to which these concepts differ or intersect between various social contexts has remained less well- explored. Additionally, there is a need to further investigate how disasters cultures are mobile, in that culture is a phenomenon that circulates, as acutely evident in the rise of social media.
The two day conference presented by the Hawke EU Centre and The Japan Foundation brought together prominent academics, specialists and policy analysts across the world to investigate the cultural and mobile aspects of disasters. Held at UniSA's City West Campus from 22 - 24 March 2017, the conference principally sought to stimulate research on how disasters are a mobile and cultural phenomena. It asksed participants to consider how disasters circulate around various parts of the world. This refers to the ways in which disasters involve movement and cultural exchange in terms of how they are managed, experienced and socially constructed.
