This study, by anthropologists Dr. Eric C. Jones (University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston) and Dr. Arthur D. Murphy (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), investigates the effects of community networks on individual and family responses to mass trauma and extreme events. Mass trauma events, such as public venue shootings and bombings, linger in people's lives long after the events themselves. They also tie together former strangers and do so in ways that significantly affect the recovery process for both individuals and communities. The goal of the research is to understand how different networked groups develop, how they change over time, and how those changes affect and are affected by their reaction to the events and their aftermath. Because this is a dynamic process that begins right after an event takes place and unfolds over years, Jones and Murphy have taken a longitudinal approach: a sustained, focused, long-term investigation of how social groups emerge, coalesce, and divide, as well as how they affect and are affected by their contexts and memberships, during the recovery process. Their focal event is a 2009 fire that broke out in a Hermasillo, Mexico, day care center and killed 49 young children while also injuring many more. This award supports a third round of data collection and analysis.
The researchers will map out the formal named groups of local residents and affected families and the informal sub-networks (calculated with hierarchical clustering) among parents and caretakers. They also will conduct in-depth interviews and participant observation (such as attending marches, meetings, commemorations) to understand how the different subgroups generate diverse meanings and pathways to recovery over time. The network data will be analyzed with formal network modeling measures of embeddedness and bridging. The interview data will be coded for analysis with text analysis software. Preliminary findings suggest that while participation in a network of people who shared and understood their experience sometimes afforded a support advantage, this was not always true. Jones and Murphy will explore the sources of disagreement and conflict, how these affect recovery, and what produces exceptions where these conflicts and individual problems like guilt, depression, fear and helplessness are overcome. This project builds new links between the fields of community psychology and anthropology in disaster and trauma studies. It also brings insights on impact and recovery to a broader audience of political scientists interested in extreme events and governance, geographers who study hazards and vulnerability, and sociologists concentrating on disasters and social organization. Better knowledge of social aspects of coping in mass trauma events is important for counselors, as well as public officials and policy makers who must help those who struggle to find meaning and justice post-trauma.
