Ecology & Politics in Southeastern Europe: The micropolitics of schools in disaster settings: disruptions, continuities, reinventions

As Tierney (2019) has pointed out, natural hazards are becoming increasingly frequent, devastating occurrences across the globe. Educational researchers have engaged with the risk and effects of hazards including floods, earthquakes and fires by focusing on the physical vulnerability of educational institutions and their hazard protection infrastructure, emergency preparedness in terms of risk perception and awareness, contingency plans and checklists, the effects of disasters on academic achievement, students’ psychological and physical health, and curriculum provision in terms of delivering planned educational content. This talk will contribute to a missing link in the disasters and education research landscape: how disasters affect the micropolitics of schools, and in particular the disruptions, continuities and reinventions of post-disaster schools in relation to questions of power, conflict and camaraderie. The talk is based on case study research conducted in post-disaster schools in Croatia in 2022.

Karin Doolan is Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Zadar. She holds a PhD degree in sociology of education from the University of Cambridge. Her teaching activities are rooted in critical and engaged pedagogy, and she conducts research on the interface between social class inequalities, education and disaster events. Based on a critical sociological lens, she has endeavoured to contribute to advocacy alliances and policy interventions driven by a vision of a more just society.