Disaster: The Otherization of Nature, the Reification of Human Beings, and the Sinking of the MV Sewol

Abstract

Disaster is a phenomenon in which civilization, the product of human accomplishments, is violated by nature. A careful examination of their disruptive characteristics shows that disasters can be man made as well as natural. This article discusses how natural disasters become human disasters, a configurative process which is ironically a product of human civilization and social structures. The sinking of the MV Sewol on April 16, 2014, which was one of the most devastating maritime accidents in Korean history, demonstrates that nature can destroy civilization—or otherized nature. Political power otherizes human beings and exceptional, inhuman occurences become routine.