Suchergebnisse

RiassuntoL'articolo analizza il legame tra disastro, sacralità e regalità in Sri Lanka, esplorando il ruolo ricoperto dall'eziologia del maremoto nella riproposizione storica del modello del Dhamma-king: un re che sia l'incarnazione di un Bodhisattva, un essere vivente che aspira all'illuminazione conducendo pratiche altruistiche come un Budda, e di un Cakkavatti, un sovrano assoluto che assembla in sé il compito di promuovere il buddismo nel mondo e al tempo stesso di difendere l'unità della nazione. Ricostruendo le tracce del maremoto nella letteratura del buddismo Theravada e descrivendo la riproposizione di queste narrazioni mito-storiche nella fase politica seguita allo tsunami dell'Oceano Indiano, si mostra come dopo il disastro si sia imposta in Sri Lanka un'immagine di eroe culturale compenetrata da una tradizione della regalità di matrice buddista e singalese: una guida-quasi- divinizzata capace di assicurare prosperità alla sua gente e di riunificare energicamente il regno seguendo i valori religiosi e l'ideologia etnico-identitaria che avevano alimentato quasi trent'anni di conflitto civile. L'idea che riconquista territoriale, ricchezza e prosperità seguissero a un periodo di disordine e distruzione ha, infatti, favorito l'ascesa elettorale della dinastia Rajapaksa, impostasi sulla scena nazionale scalando i ranghi del potere da una delle periferie dell'"impero". Così, le azioni scellerate che si erano manifestate sotto forma di calamità naturali venivano simbolicamente assunte come l'incipit di una nuova epoca dell'oro, al tempo stesso "restauratrice" di equilibri facenti perno sull'unità della nazione e "riformatrice" di una società che poteva tornare ad essere virile, proba e virtuosa. The bowl, the robe and the scepter. Disaster, sacredness and kingship in Sri LankaThis article analyses the link between disaster, sacredness and kingship in Sri Lanka, exploring the role that the etiology of the tsunami played in the historical revival of the Dhamma-king model: a king who is the incarnation of a Bodhisattva, a living being pursuing enlightenment through altruistic practices similarly to a Buddha, and a Cakkavatti, an absolute monarch whose role combines promoting Buddhism in the world and simultaneously defending national unity. By unearthing traces of the tsunami in the literature of Theravada Buddhism and describing the revival of these mytho-historical narratives in the political phase following the Indian Ocean tsunami, I show how a specific image gained ground in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the disaster, the image of a cultural hero imbued with the tradition of Buddhist and Sinhalese sovereignty: a semi-divinized leader who succeeded in ensuring prosperity for his people and dynamically reuniting the kingdom under the religious values and ethnic-identity ideology that had fuelled almost thirty years of civil war in the country. The idea that regaining territory, wealth and prosperity were to follow a period of disorder and destruction favoured the electoral rise of the Rajapaksa dynasty, a leadership that took over the national stage by climbing the ranks of power from the margins of the "empire". The reckless actions that had materialized in the form of natural disasters were thereby symbolically cast as the beginning of a new golden age, one destined to "restore" balances pivoting on the unity of the nation while at the same time "reforming" a society with the potential to be virile, just and virtuous once again.

Disaster risk reduction policies make heavy use of education for spreading a 'culture' of resilience at community level. This paper reflects on the uncritical way the concept of culture is used in current pedagogies of resilience. It describes how a deterministic/normative vision of culture is gradually giving way to a generative/emergentist approach. Indeed, the notion of resilience has brought with it an idea of culture that emphasizes the flexible and dynamic character of learning. The paper also illuminates the unrecognized potential for disaster education, for it can be used as a tool to absolve public institutions from failure by shifting responsibility for safety to the population. Resilience, in other words, can become a shock absorber that compensates for institutional inefficiency.

In recent decades, courtrooms have becomea key arena for voicing claims and condemnationlinked to disasters in all their possible forms: natural,technological, environmental and health disasters.The sentencing of three Chilean public officialscharged with manslaughter for not soundingthe tsunami alarm following an earthquake in 2010,or the trial in which 900 private citizens accusedthe Dutch government of disregarding the risksassociated with climate change, which culminatedin a guilty verdict handed down in June 2015 bythe Court of First Instance – a hugely importantprecedent in international jurisprudence – are onlya few of the most recent examples of this trend.

In recent decades, courtrooms have becomea key arena for voicing claims and condemnationlinked to disasters in all their possible forms: natural,technological, environmental and health disasters.The sentencing of three Chilean public officialscharged with manslaughter for not soundingthe tsunami alarm following an earthquake in 2010,or the trial in which 900 private citizens accusedthe Dutch government of disregarding the risksassociated with climate change, which culminatedin a guilty verdict handed down in June 2015 bythe Court of First Instance – a hugely importantprecedent in international jurisprudence – are onlya few of the most recent examples of this trend.