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Capitalism and Catastrophe: A Critical Disaster Studies Manifesto

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Volume 8

Catastrophes in Context

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Capitalism and Catastrophe

A Critical Disaster Studies Manifesto

Raja Swamy

190 pages, bibliog., index

ISBN  978-1-83695-001-1 $120.00/£92.00 / Hb / Not Yet Published (June 2025)

eISBN 978-1-83695-002-8 eBook Not Yet Published


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Reviews

“Capitalism and Catastrophe teaches that a society dedicated to the accumulation of capital is by virtue of that very fact a society geared to the accumulation of catastrophe, rupturing the relation between human beings and the environment on an ever-increasing scale…This is not the first book to address these pressing issues, and it will not be last, but it is certainly one of the very best. • John Bellamy Foster, author of The Dialectics of Ecology

“This is a theoretically rich and well thought- through book. It is a welcome intervention in the small subfield of disaster studies in anthropology and sociology.” • Steve Matthewman, University of Auckland

Description

Synthesizing critical perspectives on the impact of disasters in regard to social inequality, this book brings together key insights from political ecology and historical materialism. Querying assumptions about the “normal” conditions of life, it examines the exploitative structures and practices that shape everyday life using theoretical approaches including Rhythmanalysis, Metabolic Rift Theory, and Conjunctural Analysis . It argues that disasters are intimately linked to historical processes that foster contemporary unequal relationships, and should therefore include both those commonly associated with nature as well as those we consider facets of history and social conflict, such as war and destitution.

Raja Swamy is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, with a focus on disasters, political economy, development, social justice and climate change. He is the author of Building Back Better in India (University of Alabama, 2021).

Subject: Political and Economic AnthropologySociologyDevelopment Studies


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