Workshop: The Relevance of Culture in Disaster Recovery (October 13-16, 2016, Colorado State University)

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The overarching question addressed by the workshop supported by this award is: Are there certain kinds of cultural practices, values, and beliefs that, in locations at high-risk for natural disaster, are especially important to support in the face of the profound upheaval that natural disasters produce? Recent research into individual post-disaster situations has found that it is possible to reduce both immediate and long-term suffering by attending to the cultural strengths of impacted communities. Now Dr. Katherine E. Browne (Colorado State University) and Dr. Caela B. O'Connell (University of Tennessee) will convene researchers and practitioners experienced in the science and practice of disaster response to identify commonalities across different disaster contexts. Through this approach, the workshop aims to convert complex concepts of culture, community, and resilience into practical and actionable outcomes for researchers and practitioners working in disaster response and recovery. This approach also will further social science theory of community resilience and post-disaster recovery.The workshop will take place over three days in Fort Collins, Colorado. Working with professional facilitators, participants will be explicitly focused on how to identify and mobilize cultural elements within communities to influence the rebuilding experience and improve disaster response. Workshop participants will create a template of cultural considerations that will later be tested across different field research sites in communities working to recover from disasters. The tested and refined template will eventually be shared with first responders through a new network of disaster researchers and recovery practitioners. This network will assess the results of the protocol once tested, disseminate information and outcomes from the workshop, and work to improve future rebuilding and recovery outcomes. Cultivating this whole frame view of recovery will provide social scientists the perspective needed to develop a more rigorous social science of disasters. Equally important, it will help researchers, government agencies, and community organizations develop models for response and intervention that complement and support the needs and strengths of communities for the long-term.