Description
Book SynopsisDisasters are all around us. In everyday parlance, disasters are understood as exceptional occurrences that destroy human life, property, and resources. For centuries, people have looked to political authorities for protection from disasters and for relief in the aftermath. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic and an endless torrent of storms, floods, and forest fires have shown that modern states and intergovernmental institutions frequently fail this burden. Worse, world leaders routinely ignore evidence that accelerated climate change is an already-rolling planetary catastrophe. So, what is a disaster? Who determines when and why a disaster has occurred or ceased? And what is the relationship between such occurrences and modern states who promise to manage them? In All Is Well, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay argues that there is no such thing as a disaster outside of rituals of legal, administrative, and scientific contestation through which such occurrences are morally distinguished from the rhyt
Trade ReviewBandopadhyay (York Univ., Canada) compellingly argues that nation-states use natural disasters as a means of legitimizing authority. He contends that disasters do not exist outside a government structure, and that causes and solutions to catastrophic events are inexorably intertwined. * C. A. Sproles, CHOICE *
An ambitious and timely intervention into a pressing set of concerns, questions, and issues. By combining a longue durée approach with a focus on writing a 'history of the present', Bandopadhyay produces original insights of cross-cultural significance. Those insights will have application to the numerous projects which will surely emerge to rebuild states, societies, economies, and systems in the wake of the current pandemic. * Sundhya Pahuja, Director of the Institute for International Law and the Humanities, Melbourne Law School *
A thought-provoking and somewhat audacious book that challenges our notions about the very foundations of state power and its historic role in disaster management. Far from saving people from nature's fury, Bandopadhyay argues that disasters provide a way for state power to renew itself. Masterfully drawing on eighteenth century examples from France, Portugal, and India to support his case, the author admonishes us to look more closely at how the world around us is governed. A compelling read. * Greg Bankoff, Professor Emeritus of Environmental History, University of Hull *
Ironically titled, All Is Well provides a wide-ranging, timely critique of the world of disasters. Bandopadhyay acknowledges earthquakes, floods, and plagues are real and horrific enough. However, he shows 'disasters' to be socially constructed, mainly through official discourses that serve state power. He also finds such awareness largely absent from mainstream disaster work, where the primacy of 'the government' and 'the international community' is rarely questioned. In our own time, these hegemonic strategies are shown to support liberal, international, and ecological initiatives. In the face of existential insecurity and frightful losses, they are seen to 'normalize' gross economic and social disparities, and ecological destruction. * Kenneth Hewitt, , Professor Emeritus of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University *
Table of ContentsPreface 1. In the Shadow of Leviathans Seen and Unseen 2. Corner Pieces 3. Marseille 1720: Administrative Catharsis as Disaster Management 4. Portugal 1755: Empire of Accident 5. Bengal 1770: Famine, Corruption, and the Climate of Legal Despotism 6. Risk Thinking and the Enduring Structure of Vicissitudes 7. The Past-Imperfect Future Notes Acknowledgements Index
