Social Work & Policy Studies: Social Justice, Practice and Theory

“We’ve Become A Voice”

2023-12-06T13:45:35+11:00

This article draws on thesis research to critically analysis top-down management of disasters that positions informal, localised responses as subordinate in relation to formalised disaster agencies (Darab, Hartman & Pittaway, 2020). This research project has focused on the specific experience of community residents recently impacted by the 2019 Gospers Mountain Fire in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. It has utilised theoretical understandings of community development to promote the knowledge of ‘ordinary’ community perspectives often excluded in disaster management. It has identified taken for granted representation of community as ‘vulnerable’, ‘passive’ and ‘receivers’ of information. Rather it has found that post-fire the community has actively built social capital. Social networks strengthened and took on new meaning as the community continued to be active in disaster planning and recovery years after the disaster. Increased social capital also changed power relationships through increased community representation and the development of a ‘local voice’. Self-organised and informal groups became better able to identify and advocate for their interests and engage in democratic decision making. This research indicates the significance of localised, contextual knowledge and understanding in fire responses. It argues that this knowledge should be equally included in formalised disaster management and planning. This research hopes to facilitate structural change in disaster policy and practice through shifting hierarchical power relations in disaster responses.

Low SES communities and climate change

2023-12-06T13:47:04+11:00

Climate change is having profound effects on natural and built environments, creating unstable living conditions for both flora and fauna. It holds implications for all humankind, however, is disparately impacting people living in Low Socioeconomic Status (SES) communities. This paper seeks to discuss what current literature finds to be the most prevalent themes of climate change related disadvantage experienced by these communities. It will then discuss the relevance of these findings in relation to the social work profession and its role to challenge policies and practices that are oppressive and fail to meet standards of environmental sustainability and human rights. Furthermore, it highlights critical social work theory and strengths-based approaches as key considerations for working alongside low SES communities. This paper was written as part of a final capstone unit of study for a Bachelor of Social Work degree.

Interrogating resilience and exploring the agency within affect

2023-12-14T13:01:00+11:00

In this article I discuss the role that emotions have on shaping responses to disasters, based on interviews with people who experienced bushfire and flood in 2019 and 2020 in New South Wales, Australia. At the time of the research, state and federal disaster management strategies implored individuals to be self-responsible, independent, and accountable, under the broad concept of ‘resilience’. I argue that resilience rhetoric enforces notions of acting 'stoically' and being self-reliant in the context of disasters, which I locate as being connected with historical understandings of Australian national identity and can be dismissive of emotions, as barriers or non-pertinent in recovery efforts. I problematise the notion of resilience by challenging the presumption that its corollary, vulnerability, and emotions more broadly, belong to a non-agentive category. I consider how emotions can mould both personal and collective responses to disasters and find that experiences of anger, feeling forgotten, and being traumatized can be factors that motivate people to act.

From Worst-Practice Disaster Recovery to Best: Lessons from Ōtautahi Christchurch

2023-12-15T11:16:22+11:00

The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (2010, 2011) devastated central Christchurch, necessitating wholesale urban renewal. But national government’s ensuing recovery efforts were castigated for exemplifying global worst practice, providing a textbook case in how not to undertake recovery. Alliteratively, I argue that the issues underpinning this failure to build back better cluster around questions of complexity, control and coherence. The government’s blueprint, the Christchurch Central Recovery Plan, illuminates several fantasies of mastery associated with the technocratic mindset: that a central authority can dictate local interests, that community is homogenous, that their wishes can be proscribed from the top down, and that a fixed recovery plan can deal with emergent complexities. For, while we can formulate blueprints, design buildings and even mandate precincts, we cannot engineer urban life. Having identified problems, we can look to community activities in Ōtautahi to recommend three best-practice solutions: enacting co-governance (between Crown and iwi – Māori kinship group, tribe, nation), undertaking meaningful collaboration (between authorities and affected communities) and harnessing communitas (the distinctive social energy that emerges after disaster). All three elements often combine as social infrastructure.

From the Fire into the Frying Pan

2023-12-20T21:04:43+11:00

The repeated occurrence of natural disasters is impacting communities globally and these effects are expected to worsen as the global temperatures continue to rise. In Australia, communities on the East Coast are now bracing for another dry hot summer along with the accompanying threat of bushfire. In this context, many governments have promoted the idea of building resilient communities in order to try to mitigate the danger and threat to communities. The idea of enhancing resilience is both appealing and problematic: appealing, because it signifies the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity: problematic, because such a term can easily be exploited to support ideological beliefs about independence and self-sufficiency. This paper explores the notion of enhancing resilience in smaller rural communities, specifically in the context of recovery from the fires in 2019/2020. By adopting a case study approach, we argue first, that whilst the idea of resilience has value, it needs to be equalised by a robust understanding of the contextual factors that may increase vulnerability (Solangaarachchi Griffin & Doherty, 2012); with this in mind, we suggest that developing adaptive capacity is more fitting because of the way it draws our attention to the changes that are necessary for responding to the changes in climate. Second, we argue that if communities are to be assisted to adapt in order to survive the effects of climate change, this work will require an increased focus on community development in the medium and long-term stages of recovery, so that communities are assisted, supported and empowered to engage preparedness projects in the event of disasters occurring in the future.

“I don’t want anything to do with research, but I will talk to you”

2023-12-21T11:08:51+11:00

On the 14^th November, 2022 the small village of Eugowra in the Central West of New South Wales was hit by an ‘inland tsunami’ with widespread destruction and the loss of two lives. This small village was the place I was raised and many previous generations of my family had lived. Coincidentally, since 2015 I had been slowly drawn in the world of ‘disaster research’, with a specific focus on the experiences of communities navigating the terrains of disasters. I had heard stories and seen the destruction caused by floods, fires, storms and of course the Covid pandemic. But I had never imagined that my past and my present would collide in such a manner. Some 40% of the homes in Eugowra and all the active businesses were damaged by unprecedented (this type of language seems increasingly wrong) flooding. My initial engagement was as a volunteer, sorting material donations and listening to people still in shock. I wondered though right from the beginning how might my research knowledge of disasters be useful, although aware of its limitations in such a chaotic situation. Over time I realised that research knowledge could be useful in supporting community responses to disasters if it was offered with generosity, caution and humility. Navigating relationships and building trust repeatedly arose as requiring ongoing attention. In this article I aim to explore what there is to learn about disaster research when it becomes personal.