Disasters and Risks

This seminar, hosted at CERI by Sandrine Revet, Valérie November, and Cassandre Rey-Thibault (CEE), contributes to the research theme “Violence and the Management of Danger.” Since 2009, the Disasters and Risks seminar has fostered dialogue across disciplines on issues raised by disasters and risk situations. Its aim is to establish the foundations for such dialogue by moving beyond the specificities of disasters (so-called “natural” or “technological” disasters, health crises, nuclear accidents, etc.) and by proposing comparative reflections. The seminar places empirical research on disasters and their management (planning/anticipation, risk reduction, crisis management, post-disaster recovery) at the heart of discussion.

In 2026, the seminar will focus on examining the categories of disasters, risks, and crises through the lens of temporality. Drawing on a variety of empirical case studies, we aim to explore the processes of expansion, dilution, or transformation of disaster temporalities. For several years now, the analysis of risks and disasters has moved beyond “event-based” or “cyclical” approaches, revealing more diverse and complex temporal configurations. Thus, notions such as “slow onset disasters” or “creeping disasters” describe phenomena that worsen over time; numerous cases of recurrent and normalized disasters have been documented; the phases of emergence, anticipation, and preparedness have proven crucial to understanding disasters; while other research highlights the dilution of post-crisis temporalities within the long processes of recovery, where the disaster itself may be prolonged.

The seminar will also provide an opportunity to raise methodological questions by multiplying disciplinary perspectives: history, sociology, anthropology, geography, political sciences, and beyond.

Photo: Vargas, Venezuela (2004). Credit: Sandrine Revet.