Patterns of disaster commemoration in long‐term recovery

Abstract

The postdisaster landscape is replete with memorials that help communities collectively remember destructive events and recover psychologically. Although commemoration is intrinsic to all stages of recovery, little research from the disaster‐science field engages memorial texts across disasters. Meanwhile, a rich body of work on memorials and their functions exists in the cultural geographic tradition. Drawing from this literature, the current study examines a sample of U.S.‐based memorials to discern patterns within the postdisaster commemorative landscape. This research leverages discourse analysis to interrogate the meanings and mechanics of postdisaster memory work. Findings revealing that disasters catalyze remembrances that remake places, postdisaster memorial texts construct wide‐ranging degrees of intimacy, and memorials distilling survivor memories impel community recovery differently than memorials that reconstruct imagined pasts. These identified patterns in postdisaster commemoration enable further systematic exploration of memory work in the long‐term recovery process.

• disaster recovery
• sense of place
• social memory

This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation through a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, award #1301830.

This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation through a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, award #1301830.

Notes

This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. National Science Foundation through a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grant, award #1301830.

1. The actual death toll and survivor count are still debated (Tropea 2013).

Additional information

Funding

U.S. National Science Foundation

Notes on contributors

Elyse M. Zavar

Elyse M. Zavar, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Management & Disaster Science, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #310637, Denton, TX 76203; [[email protected]].

Ronald L. Schumann

Ronald L. Schumann III, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Management & Disaster Science, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #310637, Denton, TX 76203; [[email protected]].