Seeing the forest for the trees: hybridity and social-ecological symbols, rituals and resilience in postdisaster contexts, Ecology and Society
This paper looks at the importance of “so-called social-ecological symbols, especially the potent hybrid symbols of trees and their handling after a disaster” while exploring “the notion of hybridity” applying it to the hybrid symbol of the tree in postdisaster contexts. Three case studies that look at the symbolic role of trees where there has been a shock to social-ecological systems are highlighted: the terrorist attacks on New York City in 2001, the hurricane that struck New Orleans in 2005, and the sudden tornadoes that wreaked havoc upon the small Midwestern city of Joplin, Missouri in 2011. — (Abstract)
