Disasters and Social Reproduction: Crisis Response between the State and Community

Book Launch: Peer Illner, “Disasters and Social Reproduction: Crisis Response between the State and Community” (Pluto Press) Many communities in the United States have been abandoned by the state. What happens when natural disasters add to their misery? This book looks at the broken relationship between the federal government and civil society in times of crises. Mutual aid has gained renewed importance in providing relief when hurricanes, floods and pandemics hit, as cuts to state spending put significant strain on communities struggling to survive. Harking back to the self-organised welfare programmes of the Black Panther Party, radical social movements from Occupy to Black Lives Matter are building autonomous aid networks within and against the state. However, as the federal responsibility for relief is lifted, mutual aid faces a profound dilemma: do ordinary people become complicit in their own exploitation? Reframing disaster relief through the lens of social reproduction, Peer Illner tracks the shifts in American emergency aid, from the economic crises of the 1970s to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising difficult questions about mutual aid’s double-edged role in cuts to social spending. Building on Marxist-Feminist elaborations of unwaged forms of labour, Disasters and Social Reproduction argues that social reproduction is best understood as a dynamic between the state, the market and civil society. Following the long economic crisis of the 1970s, disaster relief has become increasingly reliant on the unwaged reproductive labour of ordinary people, allowing the US state to cut back on social spending. This shift has fundamentally reconfigured the responsibilities of the state and civil society. As sea levels rise, climate change worsens and new pandemics sweep the globe, Illner’s analysis of the interrelations between the state, the market and grassroots initiatives will prove indispensable. At HM Online, Peer Illner will be in conversation with Emma Teitelman and Aaron Benanav. PLEASE NOTE: All events for HM Online are free to register, however we would ask comrades who are able to please consider supporting the Historical Materialism project. Please consider subscribing to the Historical Materialism journal, published by BRILL, who are currently offering a 25% discount on individual subscriptions, valid until the end of the year. To use the offer, quote the discount code 70997 when subscribing at: www.brill.com/hima Also, please consider subscribing to the Historical Materialism book series through Haymarket Books. For $25 per month, this subscription gets you every new title from the Historical Materialism series when it is released (as long as your subscription remains active) plus a 50% discount on *all* Haymarket books titles via our website. Non-US subscribers will be charged an extra $20/month for international shipping.  https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/894-haymarket-book-club-historical-materialism-series ***For the duration of the conference, all HM titles in paperback will be available for a 50% discount via the Haymarket website*** https://www.haymarketbooks.org/series_collections/1-historical-materialism