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Disaster Citizenship and Solidarity of Informal Groups: A Case Study in Disaster-Affected Villages in Eastern China

Introduction

Disaster citizenship and solidarity of informal groups: a case study in disaster-affected villages in eastern china. Explore disaster citizenship and informal group solidarity in flood-affected Chinese villages. This study reveals how villagers contest state-led governance, asserting autonomy in post-disaster life.

Abstract

This article explores how disaster-affected people respond to state-led disaster governance through the analytical concepts of solidarity and disaster citizenship. This form of governance consists of two aspects: 1) modernisation, involving resettlement for urbanisation and economic recovery as well as modern technology and infrastructure for risk prevention; and 2) moral state, manifested in the state’s demonstration of compassion and its demand of gratitude. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two flood-affected villages, I examine villagers’ responses to the state’s governing of public opinion, resettlement and recovery. The study reveals that villagers contested the government’s control of public opinion by forming communal opinions, resisted resettlement and remade places out of state-designed space for reconstruction in informal groups such as neighbourhoods and kin. Besides existing social ties, villagers built their solidarity with a shared sense of socioeconomic justice rooted in a long tradition of state-society interactions. Their solidarity was enhanced but also undermined by state-led disaster governance. Nonetheless, villagers reinforced and redefined their claims to entitlement and negotiated their autonomy. This article concludes that social practices and experiences of the villagers embody disaster citizenship in rural China through solidarity of informal groups negotiating post-disaster life on their own terms.

Review

This article, "Disaster Citizenship and Solidarity of Informal Groups: A Case Study in Disaster-Affected Villages in Eastern China," presents a highly relevant and theoretically rich exploration of local agency in post-disaster contexts. By leveraging the analytical concepts of solidarity and disaster citizenship, the study promises to offer critical insights into how communities respond to state-led disaster governance, characterized by both modernisation efforts and the projection of a "moral state." The commitment to ethnographic fieldwork in flood-affected villages suggests a robust empirical foundation, ensuring a nuanced understanding of the lived experiences and strategic responses of disaster-affected populations in Eastern China. This research is particularly significant for scholars interested in disaster studies, state-society relations, and the evolving nature of citizenship in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes. The abstract effectively outlines the core findings, highlighting the intricate dynamics between state intervention and community resistance. It details how villagers proactively contest government control over public opinion, resist state-mandated resettlement, and creatively reclaim and remap spaces for reconstruction through informal groups such as neighborhoods and kin networks. A key insight is the identification of a shared sense of socioeconomic justice, deeply rooted in historical state-society interactions, as the bedrock of communal solidarity. The study's nuanced argument that state-led governance both strengthens and weakens this solidarity offers a sophisticated understanding of complex power relations, ultimately demonstrating how villagers assert their claims to entitlement and negotiate autonomy in the post-disaster landscape. In conclusion, the article appears to make a substantial contribution to the literature by empirically grounding and theoretically advancing the concept of disaster citizenship in rural China. By focusing on the solidarity and social practices of informal groups, it challenges state-centric narratives of disaster recovery and resilience, showcasing the political agency and self-organization of local communities. This work promises to be a valuable resource for understanding the multifaceted interactions between state power and citizen-led initiatives in disaster governance, offering significant implications for policy and future research on community-led recovery and resistance in diverse geopolitical contexts.

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