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Article
Publication date: 24 September 2021

Lochan Gurung and Peter McGowran

This paper is joint reflection on the role of research assistants (RAs) in fieldwork for disaster risk research, particularly at the doctoral level. The paper has been co-authored…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper is joint reflection on the role of research assistants (RAs) in fieldwork for disaster risk research, particularly at the doctoral level. The paper has been co-authored by Gurung, who worked as a RA with the other author McGowran during his doctoral field research in Kalimpong from May 2019 to January 2020. The piece allows Gurung to voice his ideas on the research in a published research output and allows both authors to reflect on how the collaborative approach taken helped to make the research more responsive to, and reflective of, the problems people affected by landslides in Kalimpong face. The paper aims to highlight the benefits of working with RAs on landslide prevention and management in areas that may be unfamiliar and to provide a space for the RAs to voice their opinion on the research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is split into sections written by and in the voice of the authors. This reflects a compromise between wanting Gurung's voice to be clearly heard in the piece and the challenges of non-academically trained RAs contributing to academic outputs that require specific training. Brief outlines of Kalimpong district disaster research in the region are set out by McGowran initially. Gurung then outlines how he became involved in the research and how this affected the research methodology. He reflects on how the research played out and presents some brief reflections on the findings. McGowran then concludes the piece.

Findings

The authors discuss how landslides in Kalimpong are related to locally specific political, economic, cultural and physical processes. It is only through discussing these processes with the people who live with and are affected by these landslides that this more holistic understanding can be gained, even though complete explanations are never usually found. Ideas for further research into landslides in Kalimpong and elsewhere are presented, centering on the involvement of people affected by disasters in this research.

Originality/value

The authors hope the publication of the paper might set more of a precedent for the voice of RAs – and those who are affected by disasters – to be more clearly heard in disaster risk research and practice in future. More of this type of research could help to address some of the issues this special issue raises.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

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Abstract

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

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Article
Publication date: 19 December 2023

Sandra Vaiciulyte, Helen Underhill and Elizabeth Reddy

Fires have the potential to destroy, resulting in the loss of property and livelihoods, as well as injury, death and repeated trauma for those who are already vulnerable. However…

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Abstract

Purpose

Fires have the potential to destroy, resulting in the loss of property and livelihoods, as well as injury, death and repeated trauma for those who are already vulnerable. However, fire as a hazard has been treated rigidly and un-critically, a model that has influenced how it is perceived by policy makers, first responders, engineers and academics and subsequently approaches to implementing and better understanding fire prevention, mitigation, response and recovery from the impacts of fire.

Design/methodology/approach

This article deals with fire, arguing that its case can help imagine what liberation might mean within and for disaster studies. The study argues against dogmatic, outdated, technological and solution-focused perspectives that have constrained how fire and its effects are understood and discuss what disciplinary liberation could mean for the study of fire and its integration within DRR. The study’s approach is based on the DRR Assemblage Theory, which points to fire as an issue at a societal level.

Findings

The study explores the themes of fire and liberation through contributions and insights that have emerged through the authors' professional experience in research and practice. It offers an original and timely engagement with disaster studies through the lens of fire, an increasingly pertinent phenomenon for disaster scholars and practitioners alike.

Originality/value

By drawing on the example of fire as a socio-technical-environmental phenomenon, this paper contributes a novel perspective on the intellectual and practical possibilities that can emerge from disciplinary liberation.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

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