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The Un‐Thought of Preparedness: Concealments of Disaster Preparedness in Tokyo's Everyday
Author(s) -
SAYRE RYAN
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
anthropology and humanism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1548-1409
pISSN - 1559-9167
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1409.2011.01093.x
Subject(s) - preparedness , premise , work (physics) , disaster preparedness , ethnography , emergency management , history , political science , engineering , law , archaeology , epistemology , philosophy , mechanical engineering
SUMMARY Written three months before the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, this article looks at disaster preparedness work in Japan. These parings develop what I call the “un‐thought of preparedness” which amounts to a general shift in the premise of preparedness in Japan from uncertainty (what if it strikes?) to poise (even if it strikes!). In the postscript, I provide a short ethnographic exploration of the work of mourning in the months following the 2011 earthquake–tsunami disaster.