ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an initial survey of theoretical and conceptual approaches and research topics in studies on risk and catastrophes or disasters in Argentinean social anthropology. Different regions of Argentina and their urban and rural populations are periodically and significantly affected by floods, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions with their ash depositions, or by industrial accidents and pollution. The problematizations or ways of formulating observed issues in terms of scientifically grounded problems are developed in accordance with theoretical/ methodological trends in social sciences and their linkages to the context in which they were produced in different projects, be they disciplinary or inter- or transdisciplinary. Poverty, precarious land tenure, and a fragile legal foundation for exercising rights are main constituents that characterize social vulnerability in situations of disaster risk. Argentinian anthropology incorporates studies on volcanic ashes in the 21st century, particularly regarding catastrophe caused by the dispersion of volcanic ash in 2011 in the region of Patagonia.
