Emergencies, Politics of Time, and Rhetoric of Waiting

 Event 

Emergencies, Politics of Time, and Rhetoric of Waiting: A Comparative Reflection on post-earthquakes in Emilia Romagna and Marche.

Part of the Hazard, Risk and Disaster (HRD) Research Lecture Series 2023-24.

Over the last two decades, the term “emergency” has taken on significant meaning in various aspects of human life, gaining particular importance in the study of disasters.

Silvia will delve into the impact of specific “politics of time” and, more precisely, the “structural time of emergency” – a universal and exclusive framework imposed during various crisis moments – on social structures, perceptions, and experiences of the subjects involved in disaster situations.

She will conduct a comparative analysis of the “experiences of waiting” that arise during ethnographic fieldwork in two interconnected yet distinct earthquake-affected Italian regions: Emilia-Romagna and Marche.

By exploring the implementation of specific “politics of time” and “rhetorics of waiting” in these contexts, Silvia will uncover both commonalities and differences in the experiences of the affected subjects, shedding light on the socio-political and existential dimensions of waiting.

About the speaker

Silvia Pitzalis, PhD in Cultural Anthropology at University of Ca' Foscari Venice, has previously worked as a research fellow at the University of Urbino, Carlo Bo. Currently, she is a researcher at FIERI, the International and European Forum of Research on Migration and an adjunct professor in “Cultural Anthropology” at Ca’ Foscari Venice University.

Since 2007, she has been actively engaged in anthropological research, with a specific focus on analysing emergencies and crises, working in areas affected by disasters and regions experiencing migratory phenomena, both nationally and internationally (in Italy, Sri Lanka, Niger, and Senegal).