Paper short abstract

Drawing on literature the anthropology of disaster and the anthropology of ruins and ethnographically engaging with the digital ruins of Hurricane Katrina, I seek to elaborate an expanded concept of ruins which conceive of the ruinous as an active and normatively laden process.

Paper long abstract

How can we trace the ruins of disasters in times of the Anthropocene? According to Disaster Anthropology, loss of infrastructure, destruction of agricultural zones) are inherently social effects. The origin of these effects extends beyond the natural phenomenon and are a result of pre-existing structural inequalities revealed by these natural hazards. Here, then, we may understand disasters, amplified by climate change, as revelatory phenomena, which expose the social vulnerabilities embedded within the affected population. Ruins, then, are no longer static sites of history embodied by materials, but rather politically charged sites. Anthropologists are then tasked with investigating the conditions out of which ruins can emerge, and what it means for ruins to emerge as such.

Drawing on literature on urban infrastructure, the anthropology of disaster, and the anthropology of ruins, I seek to elaborate an expanded concept of ruins which conceive of the ‘ruinous’ as an active and normatively laden process. In doing so, I seek to argue, the ruinous can become an analytical framework through which to understand the ways the effects of disasters, amplified by climate change, have differential effects among society. I consider the case of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, and the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank which followed thereafter to show the ways ‘ruins’ in my understanding may be mobilized in ethnographic works on disasters. What do digital ruins reveal of what has been lost, and what may then emerge?