In view of the next annual Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers (RGS-IBG) international conference to be held in London between? 29th of August and? 1st of September 2017, the RGS-IBG invites scholars to contribute empirical, as well as conceptual papers that apply postcolonial theory to explore ideas around but not limited to:

  • Alternative less obvious forms of resistance to disaster risk management
  • Orientalist discourses within disaster risk management policy and practice
  • Limits of existing frameworks to understand disaster risk reduction
  • The politics of knowledge in disaster risk management
  • Tradition and modernity and linkages with ambivalent forms of disaster risk reduction
  • Migration and associated impacts on disaster risk
  • Everyday experiences in disaster contexts

Disaster studies have seen a distinct increase in analyses at the 'community' or 'local' level. Significant attention is now given to the ability of local communities to plan and prepare for, absorb, respond, and recover from disasters. This panel discussion seeks to build on such work by bringing postcolonial analyses such as those of De Loughrey, Didur and Carrigan (2015) in their article, Global Ecologies and the Environmental Humanities: Postcolonial Approaches, into the conversation. Their work has shown that postcolonial analyses enable one to question and reinterpret dominant narratives about disaster preparation, response, and recovery, as well as the everyday experiences of 'at risk' groups.

A focus on postcolonial analyses also permits one to critically challenge the clear-cut divisions between social and natural disasters. Postcolonial theories also facilitate analyses that disrupt linear notions of reconstruction in global contexts, and which recognize and understand alternative ecological futures in disaster contexts. Finally, these approaches help to identify and understand the hidden experiences of people living in disaster contexts, as well as their resistances to technocratic and top-down forms of disaster risk management.

If you are interested in presenting a?research paper at this year's conference, please send?title, abstract of approximately 250 words and the author's affiliation and email address to Gemma Sou?by?Monday February 13, 2017.

For more information about the conference, please visit .