October 2005 • Anthropology News

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K N O W L E D G E E X C H A N G E

K N O W L E D G E E X C H A N G E

PATRICIA PLUNKET

U DE LAS AMÉRICAS

The department of anthropology of the Universi-dad de las Américas, in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico,hosted a one day seminar on natural disasterresearch in anthropology in early September. Thistheme is of great interest to our institution since weare located 40 kilometers from the Popocatépetlvolcano, which entered into a period of renewedactivity in 1994. Although the initial planning ofthe seminar was undertaken during March andApril, the topic became particularly relevant afterHurricane Katrina’s arrival on the Gulf Coast of theUS on August 29. Using case studies from Centraland South America, our invited speakers focusedon the underlying factors that create or increase riskand vulnerability, the structural weaknesses in howwe perceive and manage risk, and lessons providedby both historical and archaeological records.

Implications of Complexity TheoryAnthony Oliver-Smith, professor of anthropolo-gy at the University of Florida in Gainesville anda leading scholar in this field, opened the sessionwith a consideration of the implications of com-plexity theory for the study and management ofcatastrophic events involving human popula-tions. Using data and models developed prior toHurricane Mitch, which devastated Honduras in1998, he demonstrated how underlying structur-al problems in a society place certain populationsat higher risk in the event of climatic disasters. Inthese situations, he pointed out, the question isnot if a disaster will strike, but when.

Payson Sheets, an archaeologist at the Univer-sity of Colorado in Boulder followed by exploringhow three different Central American societieshad reacted to volcanic eruptions in prehispanictimes. His case studies from El Salvador, CostaRica, and Panama were all examples of communi-ties at distinct levels of sociocultural complexity.Initially, Sheets had expected that the most com-plexly organized groups would be the best pre-pared to handle post disaster scenarios, butinstead his research indicated that in fact lesscomplex organizations were able to respond bet-ter to catastrophes. He also found that endemicconflict made societies more vulnerable toextreme climatic events.

Health and Social FactorsLinda Whiteford, professor of anthropology at theUniversity of South Florida in Tampa, presented theresults of an interdisciplinary study of a six yeareruptive cycle of the Tungurahua volcano in

Anthropology of NaturalDisasters

Ecuador that was designed to better understand thefactors that increase resilience, decrease vulnerabil-ity, and strengthen social capital in populationsexperiencing chronic exposure to volcanic erup-tions. She focused her presentation primarily onthe cumulative effects of volcanic ash on bothshort and long-term health of the local residents,although she also discussed the results of interviewsand focus groups, which clearly voiced the impo-tency felt by the inhabitants of towns like Baños,Pelileo, and Penipe as they confronted deteriorat-ing health and economic conditions.

Participants ended the seminar with animpromptu panel discussion on Hurricane Katrina.They reflected on the particular circumstances thatled to New Orleans’ critical vulnerability to thistype of disaster, focusing not only on geography,landscape, and issues of engineering along thelower Mississippi Valley, but also on the city’sdemographics and the limited resilience of a popu-lation with a 30% unemployment level.

Housing was identified as a primary problem forthe return of many of the more impoverished seg-ments of the population since so many damageddwellings were in low income areas; at the sametime, urban renewal was predicted to bring a newface to many ofthe harder hitparishes, includ-ing the replace-ment of thecity’s mom-and-pop stores withfast-food outletsand other com-mercial chains,which will dras-tically alter thesocial fabric ofmany neighbor-hoods. Discussion centered on how New Orleans’displaced inhabitants might be repatriated andwhy race, ethnicity and class were certain to play afundamental role in determining who returned tothe city and who chose to begin anew elsewhere.The more recent arrivals in the city have seen theirsocial networks disrupted by the diaspora, and itwill be harder for many of them to recover andrebuild these ties. Race and class were clearlyinstrumental in the differential allocation ofresources during the evacuation and they will sure-ly come into play again as reconstruction begins. �AN

Patricia Plunket is chair of the anthropology department atthe Universidad de las Américas, in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.

On Research EthicsPATRICIA A MARSHALL

CASE WESTERN RESERVE U

Social and behavioral scientists often conductresearch with culturally diverse populations usinga range of both quantitative methods and quali-tative techniques such as ethnography or oralhistory. National and international guidelines forethical conduct in research with human partici-pants are well established. However, the applica-tion of ethical requirements for research can bedaunting for investigators when they face thepragmatic constraints of working in the field andthe reality of cultural beliefs about practices suchas informed consent that may be in direct con-flict with regulatory requirements.

In June of 2005, the Forum for Research EthicsBoards/Institutional Review Boards in Canadaand the US (FOCUS) organized a conference inMontreal, Quebec, on ethical issues in behavioraland social sciences research. FOCUS is one of fiveregional forums established as part of an initia-tive of the Special Program for Research andTraining in Tropical Diseases (TDR) of the WorldHealth Organization (WHO). A major objectiveof this initiative is capacity-building for ethicalreview of scientific research throughout theworld. The conference was sponsored in collabo-ration with the UN Development Program/World

Bank/WHO/TDR, the US Department of Healthand Human Service, Health Canada (HC); theCanadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);the Ministere de la Sante et des Services Sociaux-Quebec (MSSS); and the National Council onEthics in Human Research (NCEHR), Canada.

An important goal of the conference was toidentify best practices in addressing ethical issuesin social and behavioral science research, includ-ing informed consent, privacy and internationaland community-based investigations. Partici-pants represented a broad range of stakeholdersfrom academia, governmental agencies, and pub-lic and private corporations in Canada and theUS. Presenters included individuals with expert-ise in both qualitative and quantitative methodsand regulatory oversight for research.

Community-Based Research Three anthropologists were invited to make pre-sentations at the conference. Kathleen Mac-Queen, an anthropologist and senior scientistwith the behavioral and social sciences division atFamily Health International, discussed ethicalissues that arise in the design and implementationof community-based research. MacQueen drew

See Research Ethics on page 14

New Orleans under water. Photocourtesy of DigitalGlobe