Everyday hazards in the experience of women who inhabit precarious settlements
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Katherine Campos-Knothe
CIGIDEN / Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile
kvcampos@uc.cl
Author(s):
What does a disaster mean in the everyday life of people living in precarious settlements? One expression of precarious settlements in Chile is called “campamentos”. "Campamentos” are settlements where people live in low-quality self-built houses, without formal access to water, sewage and electricity, conditions that make them more vulnerable to disaster because they live in inadequate and insecure conditions (Williams et al, 2019). In this regard, when people live in precarious conditions they are exposed to small-scale disasters on a daily basis (Walters & Gaillard, 2014). Drawing on the concept of ‘everyday hazards’ (Bull-Kamanga et al, 2003; Walters & Gaillard, 2014) this research aims to understand this type of events in the micro-social dimension of the household and its everyday life. And also, it seeks to understand the management of everyday hazards in this micro-social dimension. In this regard, there is evidence that women usually have to manage events that affect the livelihood of their household under the traditional distribution of gender roles (Valdés & Weinstein, 1987; Han, 2012; Tironi, 2018). For this reason and for the importance of understanding the dynamics of households and the spaces inhabited by them, according to disaster and gender literature (Fordham, 1998; Bradshaw, 2013), the everyday hazards in “campamentos” and their management will be understood through the life experience and perception of women who live in that situation. This paper will present preliminary results from the fieldwork of my doctoral thesis, which will be developed during 2021 in “campamentos” in the city of Copiapó (Chile). However, preliminary findings of the identification of everyday hazards and women’s perception of those events in the experience of inhabiting “campamentos”, will be presented.
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Emerging voices and pathways to inclusive disaster studies