ABSTRACT
A dynamic approach to disasters requires consideration of multiple voices and perspectives, both human and non-human factors, and interactions not easily given a starting point at the individual or group level. Different ways of life and approaches to knowledge are disrupted by disasters, and daily problems do not disappear but are frequently intensified. Thus, poverty-stricken city residents are still poverty-stricken (or more so than before), governmental inefficiencies and bureaucratic structures still remain (or more so than before), and polluted areas are still polluted (or more so than before). Too frequently, however, disaster responses revolve around very few ways of knowing and ways of living, marginalizing already marginalized voices until they fade into a fuzzy and generalized impression of chaos or mayhem or tragedy. Purveyors of expertise may lose sight of marginalized community voices, especially when they are not personally hit by the disaster. Yet questions loom regarding what constitutes sufficient participation to combat marginalization, as well as what constitutes expertise and policy-relevant knowledge.
