When:
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 12:30 PM
-
2:00 PM
Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
South Asia Center presents
Elizabeth Bittel
Assistant Professor Department of Sociology
SUNY Cortland
Visit Rural Lanka: Re-Making Home on Shifting Sands
Dr. Bittel explores the multidimensional processes at play
in complex humanitarian emergencies that produce disparate long-term recovery
outcomes in Sri Lankan communities as they recover(ed) from the 2004 Indian
Ocean Tsunami and Sri Lankan civil war. This talk focuses specifically on the
rapid rise of the tourism economy in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, to interrogate
how recovery and tourism development co-occur and highlight the implications
for socio-cultural structures as communities work to integrate tourism into
already-vulnerable social systems. Elizabeth will provide a brief presentation of her research
findings, and then workshop ideas and questions for conducting long term ethnographic
research in light of ongoing, co-occurring disasters in Sri Lanka including
the the 2019 Easter Day terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka which was the most
violent attack on civilians following the end of the war in 2009 and brought tragedy to both field sites, the global COVID-19 pandemic and associated
travel restrictions, and political uprisings. Central themes guiding the conversation will include how
to ethically and logistically conduct long-term ethnographic research in communities
as they experience intersecting, chronic disasters.
This talk is part of the Sustainable South Asia Initiative.
Co-sponsored by the Moynihan Transboundary Crisis Management Group
Register Here!
For more information or to request accessibility arrangements, please contact Emera Bridger Wilson, elbridge@syr.edu.