Disasters and Neoliberalism

This book shows how the adoption of the neoliberal development model has increased the social vulnerability to disasters, with a special focus on Mexico, a country which once was the role model of the neoliberal turn in Latin America. It brings together 12 case studies of disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic emergencies, in both urban and rural areas, to show how neoliberal development projects and changes in legislation affected disaster prevention and management in different parts of the country. The case studies from Mexico are complemented by two comparative studies which analyze the impacts of neoliberalism in disaster prevention and management in Mexico, Brazil, United States and Italy. Disasters and Neoliberalism: Different Expressions of Social Vulnerability presents a unique contribution to the interdisciplinary field of disaster research by presenting qualitative studies of disaster vulnerability from the perspective of scholars from the Global South, bringing a fresh and critical approach to English speaking social sciences qualitative researchers working on disaster risks in a number of fields, such as geography, anthropology, sociology, political science and environmental studies.

Auteur
Gabriela Vera-Cortés is a teacher and researcher at the Department of Society and Culture, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur), Villahermosa, Mexico. She holds a a bachelor's degree in Geography from the the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a master's degree and a PhD in Anthropological Sciences from the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), Mexico. She has worked as a teacher at the College of Geography of the UNAM and as a researcher at the Center of Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (Ciesas-Golfo). She is the author of more than 35 titles amongst books, chapters of books, and articles. Her research projects are focused on Anthropology of risk and social vulnerability to disasters. She is a member of the Mexican National Researchers System L-I.
Jesús Manuel Macias-Medrano holds a PhD in Geography and is a Full Time Researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) in Mexico City. He is member of the Mexican National Researchers System L-II. He has authored more than 170 works (books, articles) related to disaster and risk issues, most on Mexico. He is one of the founders of the Latin American Network for Social Studies and Disaster Prevention (La Red), and is former chair of the Advisory Committee on Social Sciences of the National Civil Protection System in Mexico. He is a member of the International Research Committee on Disasters of the International Sociological Association.

Contenu
Chapter 1: Disaster and Neoliberalism.- Part I: Social vulnerability to disasters in urban spaces.- Chapter 2: Disasters as a social relapse in neoliberal capitalism: Two cases analyzed in developed countries.- Chapter 3: Flood management through cost transfer schemes in Mexico City.- Chapter 4: Social vulnerability: Learning from the September 19, 2017 earthquake in Mexico City.- Chapter 5: On the banks of the Rio Bravo...: social construction and perception of flood risk in irregular settlements.- Chapter 6: Temporary shelters and health services for older adults in floods in the metropolis of Monterrey.- Part II: Social vulnerability to disasters in rural contexts.- Chapter 7: Spatial reconfiguration and relocations after disasters in rural contexts: The case of Tacotalpa, Tabasco.- Chapter 8: Human relocations in Guerrero after the September 2013 disaster emergency: A non-preventive neoliberal response.- Chapter 9: Vulnerability, management of volcanic risk and ne-oliberalism in Colima.- Chapter 10: It is not the rivers fault: A reflection about the con-struction of disasters in Brazil and Mexico.- Chapter 11: Tabasco: Between hydraulic plans and floods. Dis-asters and human rights.- Chapter 12: Water and hills in the indigenous worldview and the fight for the defense of natural resources in the Northern mountain range of Puebla.- Chapter 13: Social capital, natural hazards and disasters in the Nahua Sierra Costa in Michoacan, Mexico.