Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-8-2025
Abstract
Just as there is a great and little tradition in religion and civilization, there is a great and little tradition in disaster. This article explores the origins of community resilience in rural areas of the Philippines based on local reciprocity and cooperation and how these customary practices form the basis of national disaster risk-reduction policies. The endless struggle to feed and shelter a family and contend with repeated hazards, whether natural or human-induced, promotes collective action. There is a need to cooperate with neighbors, a web of dyadic and community relationships born out of necessity that constitutes a “reciprocity of misfortune.” Using the Historical Data Papers, a hitherto largely untapped source on rural history, the dynamics of this little tradition of self- help and mutual benefit are analyzed and the way its folk practices were universalized into the great tradition of community-based disaster risk management policy are explained.
Recommended Citation
Bankoff, G., Claveria, B.A.A., Lozada, D., III, & Silva, C.L. (2025). The Reciprocity of Misfortune: The Little Tradition of Disasters in the Philippines. Journal of Disaster Studies 2(1), 84-119. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/971121
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