Using Critical Perspectives to Explore Disasters through shifting climates

Introduction

Disaster Prevention and Management Journal invites submissions of original research, op-eds, essays, and other creative entries for a special issue titled Using critical perspectives to explore disasters through shifting climates.

We seek contributions that examine the use of critical theoretical approaches and standpoint epistemologies to interpret and address the shifting physical, social, economic, and political 
climates for marginalized and minoritized communities. We also aim to celebrate the legacies of scholars, advocates, activists, practitioners, and grassroots and community-based organizations in disaster research whose contributions have expanded our understanding of justice, equity, and inclusion within the field of disasters and its practice.

Background

As society contends with more frequent and destructive disasters induced by climate change, environmental contamination, and other human practices, individuals also grapple with other intersecting changing climates - political, economic, and social. Contemporary social movements, like climate justice, have begun to intentionally converge with other longstanding 
efforts for environmental, racial, disability, and reproductive justice. These movements are increasingly intersectional and transnational in scope as scholars, advocates, and activists 
recognize the parallel global struggles for social justice and liberation.

As Bill Anderson Fund Fellows and affiliates, we would be remiss to ignore the intellectual legacy of William “Bill” Averette Anderson, whose work and scholarship recognized the need 
for global collaborative efforts and alternative approaches to address the impact of changing climates on marginalized populations. We recognize that lived experiences and the values we embody shape how we look at the social world and choose to engage with it. Whether through research, activism, volunteerism, etc., critical theory begins to form and can potentially shape political agendas. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Bill Anderson Fund, we want to 
celebrate the legacies of scholars, activists, community leaders, and practitioners whose work critically reframes the field of disasters and hazards and places diverse communities at the 
forefront.

To understand and address these changing climates and continue the legacy of trailblazers in creating spaces for marginalized populations in disaster research, scholars must (re)examine the traditional theoretical and conceptual frameworks often used to explain the phenomenological 
experiences of communities most impacted. In particular, scholars must reckon with these frameworks’ histories and engage with the extent to which they alleviate or perpetuate harm in their use. This special issue considers the use of critical theoretical frameworks, standpoint epistemologies, and the lived experience of marginalized and minoritized communities to 
explore the impact of shifting climates.

Objectives

This special issue aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Engender meaningful dialogue on the impacts of changing physical, social, economic, and political climates for marginalized and minoritized communities
2. Underscore critical theoretical approaches and standpoint epistemologies and their utility as political tools to bring about social change.
3. Explore the legacies of scholars, advocates, activists, practitioners, and grassroots and community-based organizations in disaster research.

Scope

We invite researchers, scholars, advocates, activists, and practitioners to submit original contributions exploring reflexive, creative, and critical research approaches in disaster studies. 
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The application of standpoint epistemologies to traditional disaster research conceptualizations (e.g., social vulnerability)
• Alternative approaches to understanding and interpreting the impacts of climate change
• The convergence of social justice movements in the conversation on climate (i.e., environmental justice, racial justice, disability justice, reproductive justice, LGBTQIA justice, movements against settler-colonialism, genocide, war, and conflict)
• Legacies of pioneers and influential scholars, advocates, activists, practitioners, and grassroots and community-based organizations in disaster research
• Best practices for community-engaged and -centered and collaborative research
• Strategies for implementing participatory, creative, and reflexive research methodologies

Guest Editors

• Felicia A. Henry, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware
• Yajaira I. Ayala, Disaster Science and Management, University of Delaware
• Nnenia Campbell, Bill Anderson Fund
• Kathleen Tierney, University of Colorado, Boulder/Natural Hazards Center
• Nancy Rios-Contreras, Department of Sociology, Chapman University

Submissions Information

Full papers for this special issue will be by invitation only. If you are interested in submitting a paper, please send an extended abstract (not more than 500 words) to the guest editors via 
[email protected] by 28th February, 2024. Authors of selected abstracts will be officially invited to submit a full paper due no later than 30th June, 2024.

Authors are requested to submit their entries electronically through the online submission system of Disaster Prevention Management. Entries should adhere to the journal guidelines for 
formatting and referencing. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure the quality and relevance of the articles selected for publication. Submissions can be 
made through Scholar One Manuscripts.

Please visit the author guidelines for the journal. Submitted manuscripts must not have been published previously, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else.

As the special issue values lived experience, authors are encouraged to submit non-traditional entries, including but not limited to poems, essays/op-eds, artwork, policy documents, case studies, manifestos, and other creative entries.

Click here to submit!

Key Deadlines

Closing date for abstract submission: 28th February, 2024

Closing date for manuscript submission (if invited): 30th June, 2024