Abstract

Not all records are kept in libraries or archives. People tell histories, too, about themselves and about the communities they live in. These personal storylines are embedded in both public narratives that are fixed in time and place, and master narratives that reflect the social values and standards of the group or profession to which they belong. How these stories are told, what is said in these stories, and the context within which these stories are produced can be said to constitute an institutional narrative that is important to both a better historical understanding of how people perceive the world around them, and the risks and dangers that threaten their lives and those of their families. Volcanoes, for instance, are talked about as if they are one and the same thing and yet volcanoes do not mean the same thing to all people. Mount Mayon in Albay province, the most frequently erupting volcano in the Philippines, is one such volcano. Through a series of interviews with a volcanologist, an engineer, a politician, a historian, and a local resident, conducted during its most recent eruptive phase in January 2018, this talk explores the various ways people tell histories about the volcano and the multiple risks it poses.

Dr. Greg E. Bankoff works on community resilience and the way societies adapt to hazard as a frequent life experience. For the last 25 years, he has focused his research primarily on the Philippines seeking to understand how societies, both past and present, have learnt to normalize risk and the way in which communities deal with crisis through a historical sociological approach. An historical geographer, he is currently an Affiliate Professor of History at Ateneo de Manila and Professor Emeritus of Environmental History at the University of Hull. He has published widely, including over 100 articles and book chapters. Among his recent publications are co-authoring The Red Cross’s World Disaster Report 2014: Focusing on Culture and Risk and a companion, coedited volume entitled Cultures and Disasters: Understanding Cultural Framings in Disaster Risk Reduction (2015).