Abstract
The book begins in the summer of 2007, when parts of the UK experienced exceptionally high rainfall and were devastated by floodwater. It is firstly the account of a longitudinal, ethnographic study of the residents and responders in one flooded village: of the relationships that are formed, the houses that are rebuilt, the personal items that are missed or thrown away and the places that are lost or compacted. It is also a reflection on the changing role of the researcher as an insider in governmental emergency recovery planning who became entangled in the life of the village. The two aspects combined allow the analysis of myths that are stubbornly reinforced throughout the aftermath of disaster.
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Notes
- 1.
In 2007, the Northern College supported the Toll Bar residents to publish a book, which they chose to name ‘Toll Bar on Sea’ after they gathered the experiences of many of the villagers. When extracts are used in the text, they are referenced as ACL (2008).
- 2.
These included a report produced by the Neighbourhood Management Team in the summer of 2008, which asked team members, residents, other local responders and primary school teachers to reflect on their experiences in the year after the floods. Within this text, this is referenced as DMBC (2008).
- 3.
I also provide this explanation into my work to shed light on some of the conflicts that I encountered in this study and also to allow exploration of my own experiences as the ethnography continued. As I will go on to show, what the researcher brings with them into the field, and what happens while they are there, will have effects and will influence the way in which the study participants respond. Gender and ethnicity are just two examples of these factors that have been explored in literature that examines ethnographic method (see Fortier 1998: 49). This may mean that ethnographers are excluded from certain aspects of a study, e.g. a male researcher may find it more problematic to observe aspects of childbirth. Anne-Marie Fortier’s work discusses the way in which ethnographers are caught up in a web of demands that come from different directions at once: academia, personal…and the interests of the subjects (Fortier 1998: 55).
- 4.
On many occasions that I visited the village, I have noted the impact of a threatened storm on the residents: He said: “It’ll rain again, won’t it…its rain” (Field notes, June 2008). She said: “I don’t want to be in a caravan for this rain” (Field notes, December 2007). Tonight it rained heavily and I remembered what the residents said today about being nervous (Field notes, December 2007).
- 5.
I have held a number of academic positions specialising in emergency planning and am a Senior Fellow of the UK Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College. I also work on projects with UK government departments, emergency services, health bodies and international corporations such as holiday companies and airlines. I have been involved in the response to a number of emergencies with a specific focus on the identification of the deceased and their repatriation to families and the preservation and return of personal effects.
- 6.
See http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/research/qr/qrpubs.html for a full list of Quick Response studies as at 10 April 2012.
- 7.
June 2007 also saw devastating floods in Hull and here, colleagues at Lancaster University, were undertaking qualitative research at the same time as my field study in Toll Bar. Their methods included observational research, discussion groups, interviews and a detailed diary study (see Whittle et al. 2010).
- 8.
Unless another source is acknowledged, all photographs used in this book were taken by me during the fieldwork between 2007 and 2011.
- 9.
Writing about external measures of deprivation has caused me concern in this study as there may be a danger that it prematurely defines Toll Bar and the way that its residents responded to the floods. However, I do understand that it is relevant when discussing aspects such as the previous history of the area. Both responders and residents discussed the miners’ strikes and the pit closures as “a disaster for Toll Bar”. It also relevant that Toll Bar was rated as significantly more deprived on a government scale for deprivation than many other areas of the UK affected at the same time by the floods. Indices of deprivation are explored in a 2004 government report available at http://www.communities.gov.uk/archived/publications/communities/indicesdeprivation as at 1 February 2011.
- 10.
Ethics approval for the interviews and discussion groups was granted by Lancaster University in February 2008.
- 11.
They are depicted in images later in the book.
- 12.
My observations in the village began in the summer of 2007. However, I waited for ethical approval before I conducted interviews or discussion groups.
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Easthope, L. (2018). Introduction. In: The Recovery Myth . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74555-8_1
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