[Radix] Disaster Risk Science and Education

[Ilan Kelman]

See below for a fascinating article on disaster risk science and education that has just been published by our colleague Ailsa Holloway http://www.socialresponsiveness.uct.ac.za/activities/sustainable_dev/dimp/overview with important lessons for disaster-related education, training, and capacity building, especially at universities.  I would be happy to send a PDF of the full article to any individual requests (please do not reply to the list).

Ilan


http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/ojs/index.php/ijcre/article/view/1182

Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and EngagementVol 2 (2009), pp. 98–118

Crafting Disaster Risk Science: Environmental and geographical science sans frontières
	
Ailsa Holloway
	
			Abstract
		
		In keeping with the University of Cape Town’s commitment to social
responsiveness (http://www.socialresponsiveness.uct.ac.za/), this
article traces the process that underpinned the development and
introduction of a postgraduate programme in Disaster Risk Science
(DRS). It foregrounds the programme’s conceptualisation within the
Department of Environmental and Geographical Science (EGS) at the
University of Cape Town (UCT), with particular emphasis on examining
how disciplinary and theoretical coherence was balanced with
cross-disciplinary application and social responsiveness.

The article begins by describing the contextual conditions external to
UCT’s formal teaching and learning environment that provided the
necessary impetus for the new programme. It also traces the iterative
relationship between context and curriculum that occurred over the
period 1998–2008. This engagement was facilitated and mediated by the
Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme (DiMP), an
interfacing research and advocacy unit, located within UCT’s Department
of Environmental and Geographical Science. An explanation of subsequent
content and sequencing of the postgraduate curriculum then follow. They
illustrate the programme’s articulation with South Africa’s newly
promulgated disaster management legislation, as well as its relevance
and rigour in relation to the complex risk environment of South
Africa’s Western Cape. The article specifically applies a
transdisciplinary lens to the new programmme, in which Disaster Risk
Science is conceptualized as a Mode 2 knowledge, but one that draws
theoretically and methodologically on environmental and geographical
science as its foundation or Mode 1 domain. It concludes by examining
the DRS programme’s positive contributions both to scholarship and
local risk management practices as well as the obstacles that
constrained the new programme and continue to challenge its
institutional sustainability.


Introduction 

In keeping with the University of Cape Town’s commitment to
social responsiveness (http://www.socialresponsiveness.uct.ac.za/),
this article traces the process that underpinned the development and
introduction of a postgraduate programme in Disaster Risk Science
(DRS). It foregrounds the programme’s conceptualisation within
the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science (EGS)
at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with particular emphasis on
examining how disciplinary and theoretical coherence was balanced
with cross-disciplinary application and social responsiveness.

The article begins by describing the contextual conditions external
to UCT’s formal teaching and learning environment that provided the
necessary impetus for the new programme. It also traces the iterative
interaction between context and curriculum that occurred over the
period 1998–2008. This engagement was facilitated and mediated
by the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme
(DiMP), an interfacing research and advocacy unit, located within
UCT’s Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
(EGS). An explanation of subsequent content and sequencing
of the postgraduate curriculum then follow. They illustrate the
programme’s continued engagement with South Africa’s newly
promulgated disaster management legislation, as well as its relevance
and rigour in relation to the complex risk environment of South
Africa’s Western Cape. The article continues by reflecting on the
DRS programme’s positive contributions both to scholarship and
to risk management practice. It concludes by critically examining
the pervasive and often dispiriting obstacles that constrained the
new programme and that continue to challenge its institutional
sustainability.


Conclusion: disaster risk science or 'egs sans frontières'

The disasters domain is, by its nature, diffuse and cross-cutting.
Moreover, its transdisciplinary character not only embodies the concept
of 'sans frontières' (without borders), but also obliges principled action
in the service of humanity. In this context, and recognizing the inherent
challenges of navigating a socially negotiated curriculum within a
Faculty of Science, the article draws much of its inspiration from the
independence and energy reflected by humanitarian organizations such
as Médicins Sans Frontières.

There are other important implications to be drawn from the
DRS programme; for, not only does it challenge deeply-entrenched
stereotypes about disaster risks in Africa, it also provides evidence that
strengthened human capacity in the continent is more than a future
educational aspiration. It is an urgent developmental and humanitarian
imperative – and it is long overdue.
 		 	   		  
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