Ashleigh Rushton is a final year doctoral candidate at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research (JCDR) at Massey University. She is a human geographer with a BA in Human Geography and a MSc in International Disaster Management. Her interests lie in understanding the ways in which gender shapes disaster risk, response and recovery. She situates her research within feminist geography and disaster scholarship. Underpinning her work is the objective to capture the diverse voices that may be marginalised in disasters. Read more about Ashleigh’s work in the guest blog post below!
***
Natural hazards are phenomenon’s that when come in contact with human populations, can create devastating disaster events. The inevitable risks of climate change will increase the magnitude and frequency of such events. We live in a world with seismic activity, hurricane seasons and floods and as we are all currently experiencing, epidemics and pandemics. Yet how do these hazards and risks impact people on the micro level? And what are the roles of social constructions and inequalities in which shape disaster experience, risk and vulnerability? As many scholars before me have argued, it is not solely the hazard that places people at risk, it is the ways in which structures in societies enhance capacities, strengths, vulnerabilities and risk. That said, my PhD research focuses on social constructions of gender in disasters. Specifically, I am examining men’s experiences of the large 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred in New Zealand’s South Island in 2016. Using feminist geography, explicitly emotional geographies, coupled with the lens of masculinities, I am analysing how sets of understandings of New Zealand masculinities shaped men’s respondes to, and coping mechanisms in the aftermath of the earthquake. Overall, this research seeks to develop sound knowledge of effective ways to assist communities and individuals whom are affected by disaster events. I also draw on feminist practices such as reflexivity, participation, respondent validation and ethical considerations by examining not only the sensitive topic of disasters but also how sensitive research is produced, managed and experienced by the researcher.
It is a honour to be a recipient of the 2020 Gender, Place and Culture New and Emerging Scholar award. As a first generation PhD student and a women part of the LGBTQIA+ community, this award provides confidence for women like myself, along with a platform to raise the voices of women in geography. Whilst this award was to assist with flights to London to present at the 2020 RSG-IBG annual International conference, due to the postponement of the conference to 2021 on account of Covid-19, I am now looking forward to presenting my research to the wider geography audience at the conference in Newcastle 2021. On submitting my PhD, I wish to pursue a career in feminist geography to further expand the knowledge on gender and disaster.
