Format: This event is presented in hybrid format: in-person in 1014 Tisch Hall and virtual via Zoom webinar (register: https://myumi.ch/M9zd4).

Description: The interdisciplinary field of critical disaster studies both builds on and expands long-standing work on disasters in a variety of disciplines. Its critical contribution lies in raising several first-order questions that have often been taken for granted: Why are some things defined as disasters and others are not? What is the assumed temporality in naming something as a disaster? How are disasters represented and experienced? How do particular understandings of disasters impact post-disaster recoveries? Our multi-disciplinary panel will explore these questions and more as each panelist engages the field from the perspective of their area of specialization.

Panelists:
• Matthew Ghazarian (Manoogian Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Armenian Studies, University of Michigan)
• Susan Scott Parrish (Professor; English Language and Literature, University of Michigan)
• Dean Yang (Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan)
• Melanie Tanielian (moderator; Associate Professor, History, University of Michigan)

This event presented by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.