A wide spectrum of events are covered ranging from floods the tsunami of 2004 earthquakes and
landslides to such long-term processes as the decline of pastures or coastlines. The diversity
of the case studies opens up questions on method and the conceptualization of terms. Many
authors among them anthropologists sociologists geographers and cultural psychologists
engage in definition of crisis disaster and catastrophe in order to differentiate emic and
etic perceptions. They discuss topics like the politics of disaster developments of boom
economies memory rituals of mourning and culture change to name but a few. Concepts like risk
vulnerability and resilience are given ample theoretical consideration and are linked to local
meanings and interpretation. This book reflects earlier research results and compares them with
new theoretical and empirical findings.
