[Sci-tech-public] REMINDER: Brown Bag Lunch Discussion TOMORROW

[Debbie Meinbresse]

Tomorrow....

>>>How Can Academics Respond to Katrina?
>>>A Brown Bag Lunch Discussion of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of
>>>Disaster in Chicago by Eric Klinenberg (U. Chicago Press, 2002) led by
>>>Mike Fischer, Hugh Gusterson, and David Jones.
>>>
>>>DATE:           Wednesday, October 5, 2005
>>>TIME:           12:00 - 1:30
>>>LOCATION:       E51-095
>>>
>>>Natural disasters and their consequences raise many questions that
>>>need (or at least would benefit from) STS perspectives.  As we all
>>>struggle to figure out how to respond to Katrina, Hugh, Mike, and I
>>>thought it might be useful to get together to discuss an excellent
>>>book that provides a possible model for analysis.  In 1995 a heat
>>>wave struck Chicago, leaving roughly 700 people dead.  The patterns
>>>of mortality bear striking similarities to New Orleans: largely
>>>black, marginalized, elderly, in poor neighborhoods, often public
>>>housing, with no one to turn to for help; their plight was the
>>>outcome of decades of misguided urban policy and urban mismanagement,
>>>etc.  Sociologist Eric Klinenberg published an analysis, a "social
>>>autopsy" of this "natural" disaster: _Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of
>>>Disaster in Chicago_ (U. Chicago Press, 2002).
>>>
>>>We will get together to discuss this book in a brown bag lunch,
>>>Wednesday, October 5, 12-1:30, room E51-095.
>>>
>>>The book was extensively and controversially reviewed.  For one
>>>interesting set (available via Proquest), see the reviews in
>>>_Contemporary Sociology_, March 2004, pp. 137-156, and his angry
>>>response in the September issue, pp. 521-528.
>>>
>>>For anyone interested who can't get their hands on a book, or don't
>>>have time to read the whole thing, see Klinenberg, "Denaturalizing
>>>Disaster: A Social Autopsy of the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave," _Theory
>>>and Society_ 28 (April 1999): 239-295, available via MIT e-resources.
>>>
>>>And for people REALLY interested, he was interviewed on All Things
>>>Considered on 14 August 2003, and on Fresh Air (but not by Terry
>>>Gross) on 15 August 2002.
>>>
>>>Hope to see you there!  Feel free to bring your lunch; we'll provide 
>>>coffee and dessert.
>>>David Jones

FYI:  One copy of Klinenberg's Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of
Disaster in Chicago and one set of the reviews are available in
the STS main office.


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