SOC 328(F) The Human Face of Disaster
The purpose of this seminar is to consider the effects of disasters on human life. We now live in a world where calamities of various kinds are not only more likely to occur but more likely to do a good deal more damage. We will examine and discuss a range of such events. Most of them will be acute disasters, such as a dam collapse in West Virginia, an oil spill in Alaska, and a hurricane known as Katrina. This is the kind of even we have in mind when we use the term "disaster." But we will also consider the impact of what we might call chronic disasters on human life: sustained poverty, colonialism, and ethnic conflict, for example.
Format: seminar. Requirements: regular participation in class discussion, oral report in class, and an independent project to be worked out with the instructor. Enrollment limit: 18 (expected: 18). Preference will be given to Anthropology and Sociology majors.
Hour: ERIKSON