Geographical imaginations and the (geo)politics of volcanic risk: cultures, knowledges, actions

Volcanoes can be cultural symbols, a source of fear, of fascination and of scientific study and a practical problem for civil protection: they involve complex social, cultural and political dynamics, and often have multi-scalar, trans-border impacts. Yet the management of volcanic risk tends to be strongly dependent on uncertain information from physical scientists about volcanic activity, with social scientific studies concentrating on social vulnerability and communication, and there is a relative dearth of studies that address the cultural and (geo)political contexts of scientific knowledge production in particular places. Geographers have explored the role of “geographical imaginations” in scientific discourses in other fields such as climate change: people, including scientists, imagine the social and physical landscapes around them. This project seeks to combine science studies, human geography and disaster risk reduction to provide a holistic approach to volcanic risk, and inform ongoing discussions about scientific advice in disasters more broadly, through a consideration of the geographical imaginations of scientists and populations. It focuses on understanding volcanic and disaster risk as a consequence of complex interactions and relationships between landscape, community, science and politics that blur the boundaries between society and nature. It combines methods from the social and physical sciences in Latin America and East Africa to investigate: (i) the ways in which scientists and people who live on volcanoes interpret and live with their environment; (ii) the interaction of national authorities with these modes of living, and how national borders affect them; (iii) the power dynamics of warnings within these contexts and across them; (iv) the implications of this approach for disaster risk reduction more broadly. Outcomes will include two books, several sets of scientific papers and three international meetings.