Description for CRSCAD501:
The course brings disaster social science to the next generation of disaster managers to help build a science-based and human rights approach to risk reduction. While many approaches to social vulnerability exist, we will take a sociological approach that sees social vulnerabilities as social productions which may be reflected, reinforced and contested in disasters, and can be reduced through disaster management. Readings and discussion, primarily but not exclusively focused on the United States and similar societies, introduce students to the growing body of literature on factors shaping social vulnerability to hazards and disasters, and hence to disaster resilience. Rather than examining "special needs" we take an approach that looks for intersection patterns of power and privilege, vulnerability and capacity in everyday life, which then positions individuals and groups differently in the face of natural, technological and human-induced hazards which may then become disasters. We will take a case study approach to highlight connections between social vulnerability analysis in the theory and the specific grounded experiences of women and men, boys and girls in diverse social locations and throughout the disaster cycle. In this way, student will gain insight into how these social vulnerabilities come into play in disasters, the capacities and resources of socially vulnerably groups in crises, and good practices that help anticipate and reduce social vulnerabilities in disasters.

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Academic Information:
Credits: 3

Description for CRSCAD522:
This course will provide students with a broad overview of challenges faced by migrant and refugee populations that have been displaced by socio-political upheavals and natural disasters.

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Academic Information:
Credits: 3