Toward a cultural sociology of disaster: Introduction

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Bin Xu, Emory University; Ming-Cheng M Lo, University of California, Davis
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-04-07
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 The Authors
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2022.101682
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: POETICS
• Volume: 93
• Keywords: cultural sociology
• Research Categories: Sociology, General

Abstract

Readers of this special issue hardly need to be convinced that disaster is an important research topic because all of us are still living amid a once-in-a-lifetime disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic. The life course of this special issue also has been concurrent with the worldwide disaster. We proposed this special issue to Poetics before the coronavirus began to spread. Our seemingly prophetic move certainly was a sheer coincidence. But even more coincident was that we publicized our call for papers in March 2020, when the virus was pronounced a “global pandemic.” Countries around the world started lockdowns, hoping that such practices could “flatten the curve.” Two years later, when we are writing this introduction, the flattening effort is anything but a success, although the new variant seems less severe and many in the West have access to effective vaccines. “Regular” disasters, including tsunamis, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, and so on, did not spare us despite our bigger trouble. “Disaster,” once a term on the margin of sociology, has now become a buzzword, and its popularity unfortunately reflects the dire strait of today's world.