Defining Disaster

Disciplines and Domains

Edited by Marie Aronsson-Storrier, Lecturer in Global Law and Disasters, School of Law, University of Reading, UK and Rasmus Dahlberg, Associate Professor, Institute for Strategy and War Studies, Royal Danish Defence College, Denmark

This timely book unpacks the idea of ‘disaster’ from a variety of approaches, broadening understanding and improving the usability of this complex and often contested concept. Including multidisciplinary perspectives from leading and emerging scholars, it offers reflections on how the concept of disaster has been shaped by and within various fields of research, providing complementary and thought-provoking comparisons across many domains.

‘Bringing together anthropology, geography, social work, and law, among other disciplines, this new edited book from Aronsson-Storrier and Dahlberg tackles a critical issue in an era of climate change, extreme weather events, and man-made shocks: how to define a disaster. Rather than providing easy answers, each chapter contributes a different perspective on this topic, some universal, and others quite specific. This book would serve as an ideal discussion piece for undergraduates and graduate students alike.’
– Daniel P. Aldrich, Northeastern University, US