Work of Disaster
Crisis and Care Along a Himalayan Fault Line

By (author) Aidan Seale-Feldman

ISBN13: 9780226845395

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Published: 05/12/2025

Availability: Not yet available

Description
A compelling portrait of post-disaster imaginaries of repair in Nepal.   In a world of cascading disasters, what are the consequences of transient care? In 2015, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and equally powerful aftershock struck the central region of Nepal. The disaster claimed over 9,000 lives and inspired a surge of humanitarian concern for the mental health of Nepali people. In The Work of Disaster, based on extensive fieldwork in the region, anthropologist Aidan Seale-Feldman examines what disaster generates, and the fraught relationship between crisis and care.   Moving between NGO offices, mountain trails, therapeutic interventions, and affected villages, Seale-Feldman tells the story of an emergent “mental health crisis” and the forms of care that followed in the disaster’s wake. She also analyzes how emergency services transform the places they seek to assist; the challenges of psychiatric support provided by international organizations; and the place of mental health counseling in a modern biopolitical reality. The Work of Disaster reveals the contiguous violence and gentleness of humanitarian encounters, engaging with broader debates about worldmaking and the ethics of care.
Map Abbreviations Transliteration Prologue: Notes on Disaster Introduction: Rupture 1: Crisis 2: Loss 3: Solidarity 4: Efficacy 5: Care Conclusion: Repair Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
  • Archaeology
  • Social impact of disasters
  • Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography
  • Professional & Vocational
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Weight:454.00
List Price: £22.00