초록 열기/닫기 버튼
This article is a personal reflection about disasters which were experienced by the author in Indonesia. The thesis of the article is that disasters do not have a particular, unchanging meaning. Rather the meanings that human beings create in the midst of the suffering of a major disaster, whether natural or human-made, are social constructions, which depend on the questions we ask. Different people ask different questions, depending on their social location, gender, role in the community, religion, age, etc. The article suggests that in Indonesia, many people construct meanings of natural disasters out of three different symbol systems: the traditional beliefs and practices of their ethnic group, the teachings and practices of their religion and the ideas and practices of modern science. While some Indonesians try to select one of these three symbol systems as the most authoritative and “true”, in fact all Indonesians are affected by all three. Tradition, religion and science are not necessarily experienced as competing or contradictory symbol systems, but rather as complementary and integrative. Religions are a powerful force, not only for mobilizing practical responses to disasters, but also for giving meaning in the face of chaos.
