We Are All Survivors : Verbal, Ritual, and Material Ways of Narrating Disaster and Recovery

"What is the role of folklore in the discussion of catastrophe and trauma? How do disaster survivors use language, ritual, and the material world to articulate their experiences? What insights and tools can the field of folkloristics offer survivors for navigating and narrating disaster and its aftermath? Can folklorists contribute to broader understandings of empathy and the roles of listening in ethnographic work? We Are All Survivors is a collection of essays exploring the role of folklore in the wake of disaster. Contributors include scholars from the United States and Japan who have long worked with disaster-stricken communities or are disaster survivors themselves; individual chapters address Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, and two earthquakes in Japan, including the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of 2011. Adapted from a 2017 special issue of Fabula (from the International Society for Folk Narrative Research), the book includes a revised introduction, an additional chapter with original illustrations, and a new conclusion considering how folklorists are documenting the COVID-19 pandemic. We Are All Survivors bears witness to survivors' expressions of remembrance, grieving, and healing"-- Provided by publisher

What is the role of folklore in the discussion of catastrophe and trauma? How do disaster survivors use language, ritual, and the material world to articulate their experiences? What insights and tools can the field of folkloristics offer survivors for navigating and narrating disaster and its aftermath? Can folklorists contribute to broader understandings of empathy and the roles of listening in ethnographic work?

We Are All Survivors is a collection of essays exploring the role of folklore in the wake of disaster. Contributors include scholars from the United States and Japan who have long worked with disaster-stricken communities or are disaster survivors themselves; individual chapters address Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, and two earthquakes in Japan, including the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of 2011. Adapted from a 2017 special issue of Fabula (from the International Society for Folk Narrative Research), the book includes a revised introduction, an additional chapter with original illustrations, and a new conclusion considering how folklorists are documenting the COVID-19 pandemic.

We Are All Survivors bears witness to survivors' expressions of remembrance, grieving, and healing.

The essays included are from Japanese and American ethnographers' experiences with disaster-stricken communities. All the contributors are experienced working with disaster survivors and at least one is a survivor himself. The volume editors are key experts active in the field and AFS each year. This volume encourages folklorists to act in support of disaster-stricken communities with an illuminating discussion about what professionals can do to describe, document, advocate, and respond. Several of IU Press's primary areas of acquisitions, folklore included, break down issues and challenges such as climate change, migration, etc. and focus on the struggles and aspirations of ordinary individuals confronted with such issues. The target audience includes folklorists, ethnographers, disaster response personnel, and other professionals working with disaster survivors Cover Copyright Title Page Contents Preface Chapter 1. Introduction: We Are All Survivors Chapter 2. Into the Bullring: The Significance of “Empathy” after the Earthquake Chapter 3. Rebuilding and Reconnecting after Disaster: Listening to Older Adults Chapter 4. The Story of Cultural Assets and Their Rescue: A Firsthand Report from Tohoku Chapter 5. Critical Empathy: A Survivor’s Study of Disaster Chapter 6. Empathy and Speaking Out Chapter 7. The Intangible Lightness of Heritage Chapter 8. Documenting Disaster Folklore in the Eye of the Storm: Six Months after María Conclusion: The COVID-19 Pandemic and “Folklife’s First Responders” Index