Geopower

Abstract

This paper discusses disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the context of emerging geographical ideas about topologies and assemblages. It focuses on the role of expert advice in DRR and the resulting political and epistemological issues. The critical geography of disasters still struggles to communicate with persistent scientific technical-rational approaches to hazard assessment. Furthermore, recent studies have shown the potential for expert advice to be (mis)used for political purposes. Assemblage theory might be useful in opening up this hybrid area of research, as it allows a nuanced view of disasters and DRR that can incorporate complex human-environmental relationships and diverse knowledges.