After disaster strikes and other stories: The political construction of Typhoon Pablo in insurgency affected communities in Mindanao

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Disasters, such as the Asian tsunami (Sri Lanka & Indonesia), the Indus Floods (Pakistan) and on-going droughts in the Horn of Africa, have increasingly taken place in parts of LMICs affected by violence and conflict. Yet, surprisingly, very little is known about the way in which people living amidst conflict interact with the state, with insurgent groups or the military in the aftermath of the disaster and how this is experienced in their 'everyday' lives. The question this research seeks to address is how are climatic disasters locally constructed in communities living with conflict in LMICs? In so doing, this project will help understand the complex political space where development interventions in disaster recovery and rehabilitation take place. Fitting perfectly within the framework of the PaCCS and the GCRF this project project will address a tangible gap in conflict and disaster research. It's findings will have a significant impact in the design of development policy aimed at improving welfare of communities living in LMICs.This research project is unique and innovative in the political space that it is interested in studying - the intersection of disasters with conflict. The approach it follows is innovative and risky, drawing together social science scholarship and methods with arts and humanities methods. Additionally in working with non-academic partners proficient in visual methods, this research allows me to build capacity as an early career scholar, interested in developing an interdisciplinary approach to studying the disaster and conflict space in LMICs.Based on physical and digital ethnographic research in two barangays (villages), in Surigao del Sur and in Manguindanao provinces, in Mindanao this project will politically construct Typhoon Pablo that devastated the southern Philippines in 2012. This region has been facing a protracted armed insurgency between the communist New People's Army (NPA) and the Islamist, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the state. Though political geography often discusses disasters as a manifestation of state "weakness" that fracture the social contracts between the states and their citizens, allowing insurgent groups to capture this space, my previous research shows such a narrative as being too simplistic. It fails to take into account the complex, haphazard and informal ways in which state-citizen relationships have been forged, invented and reinvented in the postcolonial world.To explore this complexity, my ethnographic fieldwork will also include twenty digital stories from community members who were affected by Typhoon Pablo and have been living amidst an active insurgency. I will be working with local partners Swito Corp based in Davao City Mindanao, who run an exciting start-up using digital storytelling as a medium of engaging local communities, particularly in areas of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Additionally a community NGO in Mindanao, PeaceBuilders Community Incorporated (PBCI), with grassroots networks will be collaborators on this project. This will be one of the first research project exploring local construction of a disaster in a conflict-affected region in an LMIC, such as the Philippines. It is therefore not only an innovative piece of work but in providing a contextual and socially relevant framework through which to understand the disaster and conflict intersection, but can be used to design policy interventions in Mindanao and beyond. Additionally, this project will also be one of the first to use digital storytelling as a method of ethnographic data collection. Thereby, enabling participation of respondents in developing their own digital storyboards and driving their own narrative. A guiding framework in this regard will be provided by the specialist company Limetools Ltd in the UK, experienced in using media and digital storytelling for policy work thereby improving capability of Filipino partners as well.