Presenter

Prof. Dr. Fred Krüger and Alexandra from University of Erlangen-Nuernberg in Germany

Brief abstract: 

In all areas of academic or practical work related to disaster risk, climate change and development more generally, community and its adjunct community-based have become the default terminology when referring to the local level or working ‘with the people’. The term ‘community’ has, however, become over-used in recent years. We will discuss how the concept of ‘community’ has come into fashion. We are raising significant doubts about the usefulness of ‘community’ in development- and disaster-related work. We will demonstrate how attempts to do ‘grass-rooted’, bottom-up work are usually futile, and sometimes harmful, due to the blurriness of ‘community’ concepts and their inherent failure to address the root causes of vulnerability.  

NOTE: Students especially those at Postgraduate level are welcome!