The volume discusses the experiences of natural disasters in different cultures, from Europe across the Near East to Asia. It focuses on the pre-industrial era and on the question of similarities, differences and transcultural dynamics in the cultural handling of natural disasters. The publication elaborates aspects like the long-lasting cultural patterns of perception, interpretation and handling of disasters as well as the way, specific types of disasters changed the affected societies. Furthermore, it examines the cultural learning, for example adaption and coping strategies that existed, and the natural, societal and economic parameters that play a part.
The book not only reveals the historical depth of present practices, but also reveals possible comparisons that show globalization processes, entanglements and exchanges of ideas and practices in pre-modern times.
Prof. Gerrit Jasper Schenk is Professor of Medieval History at TU Darmstadt and was as Junior Research Group Leader at the Cluster “Asia and Europe”, where he was also involved in the projects A6 “Cultures of Disaster” and D17 “Images of Disasters”.
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