Evacuation: The Politics and Aesthetics of Movement in Emergency - Softcover

Adey, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1478030585 ISBN 13: 9781478030584

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2024

Synopsis

In Evacuation, Peter Adey examines the politics, aesthetics, and practice of moving people and animals from harm during emergencies. He outlines how the governance and design of evacuation are recursive, operating on myriad political, symbolic, and affective levels in ways that reflect and reinforce social hierarchies. Drawing on a wide range of case studies, from the retrieval of wounded soldiers from the battlefield during World War I and escaping the World Trade Center on 9/11 to the human and animal evacuations in response to the 2009 Australian bushfires and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Adey demonstrates that evacuation is not an equal process. Some people may choose not to move while others are forced; some may even be brought into harm through evacuation. Often the poorest, racialized, and most marginalized communities hold the least power in such moments. At the same time, these communities can generate compassionate, creative, and democratic forms of care that offer alternative responses to crises. Ultimately, Adey contends, understanding the practice of evacuation illuminates its importance to power relations and everyday governance.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Adey is Professor of Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Mobility; Air: Nature and Culture; and Aerial Life: Spaces, Mobilities, Affects and coauthor of Moving towards Transition: Commoning Mobility for a Low-Carbon Future.

Edition details

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1478030585
• ISBN 13: 9781478030584
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328