Events

This workshop is organised by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; with support from MOE TIER 2 Grant — Governing Compound Disasters in Urbanizing Asia. 

As the frequency and interactive impacts of environment-related disasters continue to rise in Asia and around the world, a shift from expert and professional management of disasters to emerging forms of disaster governance is occurring. By using the term governance, the intention is to acknowledge that disasters are political, and, further, they engage many forms of knowledge and expertise that require governance mechanisms to accommodate, integrate and resolve. At this workshop  we aim to explore the production, circulation, interaction, and uses of different kinds of knowledge and expertise in governance for resilience, disaster planning and disaster recovery, especially in the context of urbanizing Asia, which is under the growing spectre of compound, enviro-technical catastrophes in the Anthropocene Age.

We are particularly interested in the following modes of “engagement”, each of which provokes questions about social epistemology, politics, and ethics in the governance of urban communities and their rural hinterlands:

1. Contests and collaborations across scales, such as those involving local knowledge and technical expertise (e.g., collaborative disaster planning projects in which experts and local residents participate)
2. Contests and collaborations across disciplines, such as those involving technical experts from distinct disciplinary traditions (e.g., endeavors in which social scientists work with engineers)
3. “Engaged scholarship” from critical traditions in the humanities and social sciences (such as this workshop’s participants).

On this last point, many of us who are interested in disasters and their impacts aim for our research to reach beyond the University to help people who are dealing with the threat or aftermath of disaster. But the critical academic traditions have historically vexed relationships with applied research programs with regard to interventions in the so-called “real world,” whether they be actions “on the ground” or contributions to policy. Thus, we ask: what are the possibilities for this “engaged scholarship”, what might it look like, and what does it entail methodologically when moving knowledge(s) to action? We wish not just to explore these questions in the abstract, but to propose some answers and future directions. As such, in addition to conventional presentations and panels, we will watch one scholar’s documentary film and discuss with him the possibilities and limitations of narrative media as a viable mode of intervention; and we will also journey on a field trip to a site of controversy and action in Singapore.

We theorize “engagement” as a socio-political process in the production of knowledge, implicating four dimensions: (1) normative (ethics/values), (2) explanatory (theory and evidence) of real world conditions and drivers, (3) policy (what to do with what policy tools), and (4) action (implementation/mobilization). Each dimension, in turn, entails epistemological questions that also traverse across the other dimensions. Thus, each may be associated with (1) e.g., the good society, moral economy, utopian dreams, etc.; (2) e.g., competing paradigms of how the world works — Marxist, neoclassical economic, Weberian, etc.; (3) e.g., sector experts, policy makers, and state-aligned technocrats; (4) e.g., participatory planning and action. The problematic is that prevailing forms of governance inhibit social learning within and across the dimensions and also privilege a few voices over the many. Thus, we ask: how can we find innovative modes of engagement that connect all four dimensions with all voices (ways of knowing) toward disaster recovery and resilience?

This workshop will explore analytical and normative questions regarding the roles of expertise — including local and various forms of technical expertise — in disaster governance, in the context of urbanizing Asia, through the lens of engagement. How do/should technical specialists from different disciplines engage with each other? How do/should they engage with local communities and putatively non-expert residents? How do/should residents engage with scientists, engineers, planners, physicians, and other experts whose knowledge may bear on, e.g., reconstruction of the built environment or the environmental risks of radiation and other toxins? What kinds of local knowledge are/should be taken into account by ethical and effective, democratic governance processes? Moreover, we reflexively ask: how should scholars from the humanities and critical social sciences — such as ourselves — engage with such processes, communities, and experts? What are our own ethical responsibilities vis-à-vis disaster governance?

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. However, registration is required and seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please write to Sharon at arios@nus.edu.sg if you are interested to attend the workshop.

CONVENORS

Dr Tyson Vaughan
Asia Research Institute, and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore
E | arietv@nus.edu.sg

Dr Eric Kerr
Asia Research Institute, Tembusu College, and Department of Philosophy, National University of Singapore
E | eric.kerr@nus.edu.sg