New Hazardscapes for Old: Rupture, Resilience, Resistance

What is it about?

In the face of a natural disaster – say the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 in Christchurch – resilience is an essential, transcendental component of survival. We talk of the human spirit as a force unquenched by catastrophe, and of a sense of community awakened. It’s a utopian vision, and its experience is as ephemeral as the shock of an earthquake. This essay looks at performances of rupture, resilience and resistance in multiple hazardscapes, in not-quite-post-earthquake Christchurch and in not-quite-post-colonial Aotearoa New Zealand, while keeping an eye on the storms raging over much of the world today.

Featured Image