List of Figures; Acknowledgements Chapter 1. Processing Disaster and Recovery The Disaster and the Everyday Local Worlds and Recovery Figure and Ground in Disaster Anthropology Transformation and Future Trajectories Book Outline Chapter 2. The Field: Entrance and Emergence Arrival Emergent Fields Mapping Place and People Fieldwork on Foot A Walk around the Village The Lay of the Land Chapter 3. The Dwelling: Homes and Hazards Build Back Better Bereavement and Moving on Homing In Chapter 4. On Forecasting: Wind and Water Weather or Not The Landfall of Disaster Dropping the Anchor Forecasts and Precautions In a Climate of Changing Tides Chapter 5. Responsibility: Agents and Agencies Local Level Humanitarian Support On the Limits of Community Recuperating Subjects Chapter 6. Confusing Hardships: Onslaught and Opportunity In Need of Repair Certifying the Future The Ties That Bind Rallying for Safety Projecting Progress Chapter 7. Materialisations of Loss: Monument and Memory Monumental Memories The Materiality of Loss On New Plots Chapter 8. Everyday Life: Tsunami Time Bibliography; Index
Summary
The Asian tsunami in December 2004 was reported on exhaustively all around the world. But this is the first full-length examination of the disaster. Providing an in-depth ethnography of the tsunami and its effects on a fishing village on the coast of Tamil Nadu, India, the author shows how disaster survivors have dealt with the tsunami and worked to regain their confidence in the environment on which they depend for their livelihood. The book testifies to a remarkable local recovery process and demonstrates the survivors' commitment to restoring a sense of certainty and future possibilities ev
