Gendered expectations and consequences of disaster

This was a fascinating session of researchers and practitioners, looking at the the gender dimensions of disaster. Bob Pease spoke again about masculinity. We need to move beyond a socio-biologic model or sex role theory. Men need to experience vulnerability more, as they think they are invulnerable. Deb Parkinson outlined the extraordinary research that she […]

Privileged irresponsibility

Bob Pease from Deakin and the University of Tasmania gave a strident, clear and passionate about the privileged irresponsibility relating to global warming, and the environment, structured violence that it brings. He brought a clear criticism of the term and concept of resilience, suggesting as a concept it is not connected at all to political […]

National Gender and Emergency Guidelines

The National Gender and Emergency Guidelines were launched by Maureen Fordham. She commented that they are not long, they are practical, and a great starting point to guide gender inclusiveness. It focuses on principles and actions for consideration. They can be found here: http://www.genderanddisaster.com.au/info-hub/national-gem-guidelines/

Inclusiveness in disaster risk reduction

JC Gaillard, a charismatic french academic from Auckland, wanted us to sing karaoke. The room shifted nervously. He played a song which was a karaoke simple love song and then the actual video, which was from the soundtrack from a disaster movie. He reflected that the video portrayed all the behaviours that we know don’t […]

Day 2: Diversity In Disaster-Using Words Wisely

On a brilliant Melbourne Autumn morning, day two started at the MCG. A plenary panel with various media people. Looking forward to this perspective. Dennis Mueller, from the University of Melbourne, Sacha Rundle from the ABC, Tom Doig, from Monash University, Nick McKenzie from ABC and Fairfax, and Anna Parle, from the Dept of Premier […]

This is (Not) a Drill: Creative Adaptation in response to wicked problems

Artists are agitators and changers. They are not afraid of the dark. Refuge is a an the intersection between artists and scientist that was held in North Melbourne town hall. Tara Dowse introduced the thinking behind refuge, both the changing climate, but also an acknowledgement of first nations relationships to the land. The first refuge […]

Inclusive and effective response and relief: Meeting the needs of all the communities

Up in the Jim Stynes Room, we were talking about the challenges, and rewards of working with those hard to reach communities. Leading off first is my wonderful colleague, Danielle Every who gave a fabulous overview of the research that we undertook. Rather than recount, here’s a link to an earlier blog . One of the […]

Walking together as one: plenary after lunch

A yarn about drawing upon traditional knowledge to help manage lands, about protecting and growing culture and knowledge, and respect for the oldest living culture in the world. The session started off with a terrific short film about an Aboriginal man working on country. The poignant statement was “As an aboriginal man, we’ve been looking […]

Arts, culture and creativity

Silence, and the powerful reflection from Barb Joyce from Strathewen, a poem, from the poetry tree. A place that I know well. A fabulous range of speakers. Evonne Miller from QUT, Jen Rae from Fair, Share, Fair, Scotia Monkivitch, from Creative Recovery Network, and Barbara Joyce from Strathewen. Maree Grenfell from Resilient Melbourne opened […]

Diversity in disaster contemporary directions: Opening.

First up is the keynote speaker, Professor Maureen Fordham, from IRDR Centre for Gender Research. Maureen is a legend in disaster management research. She was responsible for setting up the Gender and Disaster Network, which was founded in 1998, and as she said, its 20th anniversary is no cause for celebration, as she had hoped […]