Biography and Disaster: From Methodological Perspectives

Many disasters have occurred on our earth. Various natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, wildfires, and floods, have brought us the loss of homes and families, the collapse of local communities, and sometimes immeasurable damage.

Disasters have caused enormous loss and hardship to people's daily lives and have changed their lives. Disasters have a long-term impact on people's lives and experiences of disasters have been handed down to be left behind in biographies and shared as collective memories in local communities.

Disaster experiences which included severe difficulties or loss, and sometimes a feeling of solidarity have been studied through qualitative research, especially biographical methods. Interpreting these kinds of experiences requires careful considerations based on empirical research, historical oral tradition and multiple sources.

This session, "Biography and Disaster," is of particular interest to organizers who have studied the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake using the biographical approach in Japan, where earthquakes occur frequently.

The disasters are not limited to natural disasters such as earthquakes, but also include catastrophes that cause great hardships for people, such as wars or social disasters. This session aims to be a place where participants can discuss the possibility of biographical research on disasters.

We would like to address this question along with various research examples from the perspective of what kind of biographical methods are possible in the study of disaster experience. We particularly welcome contributions that discuss this topic in reference to specific empirical approaches.