Community Resilience and Well-Being: An Exploration of Relationality and Belonging after Disasters

Abstract

Community resilience is commonly held to be critical for coping with adversity and disturbance. Although the process of community resilience is often contested and critiqued, the enactment of social relations within communities has been shown to ameliorate the worst impacts of disaster events on the well-being of their members. Here, we propose that well-being in the aftermath of disasters is shaped by processes of relationality and belonging within communities. This study uses data from longitudinal mixed-methods research with flood-affected communities in southwest and eastern England directly affected by long-duration and high-impact floods. Analysis from in-depth interviews conducted over eighteen months and from cross-sectional surveys of affected populations shows that active belonging and relational capital are related to self-reported well-being. The results further show that active belonging is consistently significant for well-being, whereas relational capital is only significantly correlated to well-being later in the recovery period, and that social identity processes are central in the link between community dynamics and well-being. The changing identity processes include altered perceptions of community membership and the use of collective identities to frame personal experience. These results suggest that community resilience processes and their relationship to individual well-being are not fixed but evolve through stress, trauma, and renewal.

社区的弹性在应对困难和干扰时非常重要。尽管社区弹性经常受到挑战和批判，制定社区内部的社会关系，已经被证实能够减轻灾害对社区成员生活状态的最坏影响。社区内部的关联性和归属决定了灾后生活状态。利用纵向混合方法产生的数据，本文研究了历经长时段、高影响洪水的英格兰西南部和东部社区。通过对受灾人口18个月的深入采访和横断面调查，结果显示，主动的归属和关联的资本与社区成员生活状态有关。文章还发现，主动的归属对良好生活状态始终具有重要性，关联的资本只在恢复期同生活状态有重要关系，而社会身份在社区变迁和生活状态的联系中有核心作用。变化的社会身份包括：社区成员观念的转变、利用群体身份来定义个人经历。这些结果表明，社区弹性及其与个人生活状态的关系不是固定的，而是随着压力、损伤和恢复而变化。

Comúnmente se considera la resiliencia comunitaria como crítica, para enfrentar la adversidad y la perturbación. Aunque a menudo el proceso de la resiliencia comunitaria es debatido y criticado, la reconstitución de las relaciones sociales dentro de comunidades ha sido factor que alivia los peores impactos de eventos desastrosos sobre el bienestar de sus miembros. Aquí nosotros proponemos que el bienestar después del desastre se configura con procesos de relacionalidad y pertenencia dentro de las comunidades. Este estudio usa datos de investigación longitudinal de metodología mixta en comunidades afectadas por inundaciones, en partes del sudoeste y este de Inglaterra afectadas directamente por inundaciones de larga duración y alto impacto. El análisis de entrevistas a profundidad efectuadas durante dieciocho meses y de estudios cros-seccionales de poblaciones afectadas, muestra que la pertenencia activa y el capital relacional se relacionan con el bienestar auto-reportado. Los resultados muestran también que la pertenencia activa es consistentemente significativa con el bienestar, en tanto que el capital relacional solo está significativamente correlacionado con el bienestar más tarde en el período de recuperación, y que los procesos de identidad social son centrales en el vínculo entre la dinámica comunitaria y el bienestar. Los procesos de identidad cambiantes incluyen percepciones alteradas de membresía comunitaria y el uso de identidades colectivas para enmarcar la experiencia personal. Estos resultados sugieren que los procesos de resiliencia comunitaria y su relación con el bienestar individual no son fijos, sino que evolucionan con el estrés, el trauma y la renovación.

Key Words:

• community resilience
• disaster management
• identity
• relationality
• well-being

关键词:

• 社区弹性
• 灾害管理
• 身份
• 关联性
• 良好生活状态

Palabras clave:

• bienestar
• identidad
• manejo del desastre
• relacionalidad
• resiliencia comunitaria

Acknowledgments

We thank public respondents for their participation and the journal reviewers for insightful comments and suggestions.

Additional information

Funding

This research was undertaken with funding from the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in partnership with Public Health England in collaboration with the University of Exeter; from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Grant ES/M006867/1); and from the Wellcome Trust Climate Change and Health Program (Grant: 216014/Z/19/Z).

Notes on contributors

Tara Quinn

TARA QUINN is an Associate Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include societal adaptation to climate change and the impact of extreme events on well-being and public health.

W. Neil Adger

NEIL ADGER is a Professor in Human Geography at the University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. He researches social dynamics of climate and environmental change and risks, including resilience, well-being, demographic, and public health dimensions.

Catherine Butler

CATHERINE BUTLER is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research focuses on the social and political dimensions of environmental issues. This includes examination of societal changes required to mitigate climate change and its impacts.

Kate Walker-Springett

KATE WALKER-SPRINGETT was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Geography at the University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK. She works on risk and well-being associated with natural hazards.