Disaster and the Arts
This collection of essays explores the role of the arts in learning to live with geological disasters. It studies film, literature, theatre, and visual art in different regions of the Andes. We have found that cultural narratives can be used to critique governmental responses to disasters, to facilitate healing after trauma, to explore the prevailing impacts of disaster (which persist long after they occur), and to create empathy with disaster survivors.
Wandering and Sleeplessness: Performance as Research in Reliving the 1970 Peruvian Earthquake (R. Jarman)
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When Worlds Converge: Geological Ontologies and Volcanic Epistemologies in Colombian Literature after the 1985 Eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz (R. Jarman)
Read in Textual Practice
Before and After? Temporalities of Disaster (R. Jarman)
Read in e-flux
Bolivarian Landslides: Ecological Disasters, Political Upheavals, and (Trans)National Futures in Contemporary Venezuelan Culture (R. Jarman)
Read in EcoZon@
Survival, Reconstruction, and Commemoration
This collection of essays and creative outputs examines the issues that are important to survivors. It documents the reconstruction of towns and cities that have been destroyed by landslides, it sets out survivors’ recovery strategies and looks at how disasters are remembered.
A Fitting Tribute: Tip Removal and Land Reclamation after the Aberfan Disaster in South Wales (R. Jarman)
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Armar la plaza: La articulación urbana de Yungay antes y después del terremoto de 1970 (R. Jarman, A. Oliver-Smith, T. Usón)
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Sobre vivientes (D. Ceballos and R. Jarman)
Listen on SoundCloud
Sobre naturales (D. Ceballos, R. Jarman, V. Vargas-Downing)
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Caminatas e insominos (L. Ramírez, B. Benites, R. Jarman)
Watch on YouTube
Yungay en la memoria (A. Espinoza, T. Ojeda, M. Reyes)
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El último espectáculo (D. Paredes)
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El fin del mundo (A. Mosca)
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Geological Relations
This collection of artworks and texts unpicks the entangled relationships between geological and social processes on a planetary scale. They reflect on the spiritual, cultural, and metaphysical connections between the earth’s different strata, exploring the ways in which tectonic forces and land formations interact with human settlements, cultures, and daily life.
Nosotros, los Andes (R. Jarman and V. Vargas-Downing, eds)
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Educational Resources
These resources promote multilingualism, multilingual identities, decolonial curricula, and community heritage. They also seek to foster collective memory of landslide disasters among younger generations. They were created as part of an intercultural exchange programme between primary schools in Wales and Peru.
Lessons from an Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Promote Multilingualism, Decolonial Curricula, and Community Heritage at Primary Schools in Wales and Peru (R. Jarman, L. Jenkins. V. Vargas-Downing)
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Lesson Plans and Learning Resources
“If My Town Could Talk….” Co-Created Map of Aberfan
“Mi pueblo habla” Co-Created Map of Yungay
