Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-29-2019

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Communication Research

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

First page number:

1

Last page number:

21

Abstract

Communities learn important lessons about their vulnerabilities from disasters. A crucial aspect of resilience is how communities apply past lessons to prepare for future events. We use a practice lens to examine how communities remember and forget lessons through everyday communication surrounding their preparedness activities. We analyze two cases of disaster preparedness in one community. The first site, a local Office of Emergency Management, adapted national policies to the community while also keeping local disaster lessons in mind (i.e. remembering lessons). The second site represented an intractable conflict between the U.S. Forest Service and a community group that inhibited the implementation of a large-scale wildfire mitigation project (i.e. forgetting lessons). We frame resilience as a communicative accomplishment and apply practice methods to ‘zoom in' on communication micropractices, and ‘zoom out’ on trans-local communication practices. The findings highlight how communities remember and forget local lessons in everyday activities.

Keywords

Resilience; Practice; Disaster Preparedness; Emergency Management

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

258 KB

Language

English

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