This three-hour workshop aims to bring together social scientists working on the field of disaster research in the Philippines. In particular, the seminar seeks to generate scholarly conversations about the ways in which empirical research contribute to sociological theorising in an era that is increasingly defined by risks, vulnerabilities and disasters. Building on the conceptual issues raised in the Philippine Sociological Review’s Special Issue on Disasters, papers presented in this seminar will provide (provisional) answers to these core questions: What is the theoretical and methodological range of contemporary disaster studies in the Philippines?  How can empirical research on disasters challenge dominant paradigms of sociological theory? Are ‘classic’ categories of gender, ethnicity and class relevant concepts to make sense of the social underpinnings and impacts of disasters? Can the study of disasters recast our understandings of social order and prospects for transformative practice? By reflecting on these key questions, this seminar aims to foreground the epistemic and practical value of sociological theorizing in a field of study that has been, for the most part, been driven by empirical and pragmatic approaches.

KEY INFORMATION
Date: 4 March 2016 (Friday)
Time: 15:00-18:00
Venue: Leong Hall, Room 404, Ateneo de Manila University
Audience: Open to the public
Key contact: April Porteria aprilporteria@gmail.com

PRESENTERS
Constructing Reconstruction: Governmentality in post-Haiyan “risk-prone” areas in Tacloban City
Dakila Yee, University of the Philippines-Tacloban

Like a Kite Flying in a Hurricane: Democracy in the Age of Misery
Dr Nicole Curato, University of Canberra

Social Capital and Facebook Use of Tacloban City After Super Typhoon Haiyan
Arla E. Fontamillas, Victoria University of Wellington

Assessing the implementation of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act in Cadiz and Roxas cities
Anna Mae Dela Cruz, Ateneo de Manila University

Download the program and abstracts of presentations here.
Download the conference poster here.