| Author | Mitra, Shalini |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Masters of Science in
Gender and Development Studies |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Communities experiencing disaster undoubtedly undergo a traumatic crisis and this crisis
generates behavior and demands response. Then after the disaster the victims slowly move
towards an extended recovery period. This disaster behavior, responses and the recovery
process differ considerably from communities to communities and from individual to
individual because vulnerability to disaster risk is again relative in a society and has its
roots deep down in the societal embedded power structures. Since, alongside the physical
space the disasters also collapse the social spaces and often stir conflict within these spaces
of societal structures often making alterations, adjustments and reversing the roles from
here arises the burning question that whether after a disaster the culture of a society change
or not?
In order to answer the above question, the most backward caste community women from
the1999 super cyclone devastated Jagatapada village of coastal Orissa have been studied
under the context of changing gender and caste norms. To understand the experiences of
these women, higher caste women and also men from the communities has been taken as
the target group. The research with an ethnographic approach tried to understand the
interplay of caste and gender in the context of a natural disaster and if the atrocities and
devastations of a disaster is enough to alter the long lasting tradition of gender and caste
hierarchies and what are the role of the humanitarian organizations here.
Analyzing the primary data, gathered from the group discussions, interviews and
household survey, it was discovered that when, in the face of a disaster as lives struggle to
resist death, all pre existing practices collapse. And in the recovery period with the
assistance of the humanitarian organizations there can be possible shifts in the pre existing
hierarchical roles and practices and the disaster has acted as a catalyst for these changes. |
| Year | 2009 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Program | Gender and Development Studies (GDS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Doneys, Philippe ;Routray, Jayant K. ; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | AIT Fellowship; |