Retreat | Rebuild Colloquium Keynote Address: Sara Pantuliano

Keynote as part of the Retreat | Rebuild Colloquium, a collaboration between the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Harvard Graduate School of Design

Disaster recovery is entrenched in the landscape. Lives are put at risk when land heaves, slides or shakes, when it becomes inundated or undergoes drought, when it is submitted to un- restrained development. Thus, land issues are at the crux of conflicts and post conflict reconstruction efforts alike. And yet, disaster response operations – focused on alleviating suffering and meeting immediate human needs – cannot account for the fluidity and longer time horizons that define the risk. As a result, land rarely serves as the primary topic of research in the humanitarian field. This conference brings into view the necessarily fluid effects that disasters have on the land and the humanitarian action that unfolds in response, with the aim of furthering the necessary collaboration between humanitarians and designers.

Sara Pantuliano, Managing Director of the Overseas Development Institute and Editor of the journal Disasters, will present a keynote address on Friday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m., at the Harvard Art Museums. The keynote address is free and open to the public.

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

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