Patricia J. Cohn

Fire as a Galvanizing and Fragmenting Influence on Communities: The Case of the Rodeo–Chediski Fire

ABSTRACT Large wildfires that burn through the “forest–residential intermix” are complex events with a variety of social impacts. This study looks at three northern Arizona community clusters directly affected by the 2002 Rodeo–Chediski fire. Our analysis suggests that the fire event led to both the emergence of cohesion and conflict in the study area. Community cohesion was evident as residents “pulled together” to rebuild their communities. Examples of cohesion included managers of local businesses staying during evacuation to provide for the needs of firefighters, providing shelter and cleanup help for burned-out neighbors, and the emergence of locally based assistance groups. Several types of conflict rooted in blaming and distribution of firefighting and disaster assistance resources were found: cultural, local versus federal, community versus community, intracommunity, and environmental. We suggest that these responses are most usefully understood using the lenses of social psychology (attribution theory) together with sociology (structuration theory). Issues and dynamics that resulted in controversy or were seen as locally constraining and those that resulted in cohesion tended to relate to specific local impacts and how outsider actions were either consonant or dissonant with the application of local knowledge, local autonomy, and locally desirable outcomes.

Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on the impacts of wildland fires on communities

A series of syntheses were commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service to aid in fuels mitigation project planning. Focusing on research on the social impacts of wildland fire, this synthesis explores decisions and actions taken by communities before, during, and after a wildland fire to minimize its impacts. It then synthesizes the research studying (1) the consequences of these decisions and (2) the community impacts of wildland fire.

So Happy Together or Better Off Alone? Women's Economic Activities, Cooperative Work, and Employment in Rural Paraguay

Development organizations are emphasizing the use of womens groups to improve socioeconomic welfare and empower women at the household and community levels. This study looks at income-generating activities (IGAs) of women in a small rural community in eastern Paraguay, their contribution to family welfare, and womens involvement in community management. Economically active women in the study community had decision-making power within the household, but were not actively involved in community management. Further, the women preferred to work independently and not with others. There was a near universal preference for the use of particular IGAs, but personal and family circumstances affected production methods and yields. These preferences - along with negative experiences with previous group projects, a desire to work autonomously, socioeconomic differences, and attitudes of distrust among the women - affect womens willingness to participate in cooperative projects and community management. Recognition of differences in social stratification among women and their socioeconomic circumstances is crucial to developing projects that complement individual needs and capabilities as well as facilitate involvement and leadership of females in community affairs.