Analyze

How does visualizing allows us to set the parameters to make the future vision a reality?

I am interested in seeing how social ties and networks have been used to cope with (un)natural disasters. My research focus on places under disasters conditions such as Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in which social ties have made the difference between life and death. Furthermore, “natural” disaster has been used to approved austerity measures and unjust policies to impoverished communities like in New Orleans after Katrina. These policies were not new, as they are rooted in structures of power to preserve the status quo. Yet, people have resisted, “through a network of branches, cultures, and geographies” that has stimulated a reflective process of looking within for solutions rather than outside. As often this outside solutions are not only detached from community’s reality but can perpetuate social injustices and inequalities.

McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. A. (Eds.). (2007). Black geographies and the politics of place. South End Press.

Bullard, R. D., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2009). Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Westview Press.

Emergency response is addressed in this report. Responses from various outlets to the Fukushima nuclear disaster are outlined and critiqued to prove the end point of Schmid, which is that an international nuclear emergency response plan is necessary. 

The author is Byron Good, Ph.D. He is an American anthropologist and teaches medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School. His main focus is mental illness and the cultural meanings of it. He also explores patient narratives and the perspectives of non-Western medical knowledge and compareds different mental health systems. He has done research in Iran, Indonesia, and the US. He has several publications including papers, books, and editted volumes.

The main point of this article is that efforts to restore and rebuild Haiti have not been done as they should have been. Despite the donations received to help, none of the funds have been used appropriately to transform Haiti. The lack of responsible spending has caused the transformation to halt and rebuilding efforts to fail. The ways in which organizations are spendng their money is irresponsble and wasteful. As a result, the current status of the country is not at all where it should have been. Also, the UN brought cholera with them, which has killed over 9,000 Haitians, for which they are not taking any responsibility. 

The bibliography shows that the author did extensive research and even cited herself a few times. She uses MSF reports and essays, information from the United Nations, WHO, and other experts. 

Many stakeholders are mentioned in this film. The main group are the Liberian citizens who were directly affected. Those living in Monrovia were interviewed. They show a quarantine zone and show how citizens within it were unable to receive adequate food. They show a 260kg bag of rice meant to feed over 2,500 people. The lack of resources is something the film discusses and highlights. The film also shows government workers and their lack of knowledge and how that caused tension between the citizens and their leaders. The main narrator in the film discusses his challenges with getting his family out of Liberia and to the United States. Doctors and nurses are mentioned as well and their role in the outbreak. NGOs are discussed and how doctors from around Liberia volunteered to come to express their patriotism and assist those in need. The President is shown addressing the country, but the quarantines enacted prove to be inaffective as they caused a lot of rioting. 

I thought every aspect of the film served a purpose and helped shape the documentary.

The bibliography includes vast amounts of other papers, many of which governmental. The paper shows that a lot of background research was done, which is shown in the bibliography as well. The vastness of their references adds crediblity and authority to this paper. 

Emergency response is not really discussed in this article, since the focus is the investigation carried out after disasters have been cleared. He does mention responders at the Hague Street Explosion and the fire departments role in both that, the Iroquois Fire, and 9/11. He also mentions that had there been better fire response, the outcomes could have been different.