Risk Epistemologies and Aesthetic Reflexivity of a Disaster-Affected Community: Findings from Vietnam

Risk Epistemologies and Aesthetic Reflexivity of a Disaster-Affected Community: Findings from Vietnam

Sociological Research Online

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Risk Epistemologies and

Aesthetic Reflexivity of a

Disaster-Affected Community:

Findings from Vietnam

Kien Nguyen-Trung

Monash University, Australia

Abstract

Scholars and policymakers often use their expert knowledge to define the risk that laypeople face Nonetheless, they have frequently overlooked how laypeople describe and explain the risks they face on a daily basis Moreover, an emphasis on individualisation and reflexivity in Western societies has led to little understanding of how a non-Western community constructs its shared risk culture and how this culture associates aesthetic reflexivity and risk epistemologies The purpose of this research is to fill these gaps by exploring how Vietnamese farmers reflexively define risk in their everyday lives, which in turn informs their risk-taking attitude and action Drawing on a case study of disaster-prone farmers in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, this research reveals a distinct set of farmers’ risk epistemologies through a process of hermeneutic reflexivity situated in their risk culture and a shared identity They do not view risk as wholly negative but rather as an opportunity to attain the aim of surviving and profiting They see cultivating a risky crop as a collective action of risking their lives, sharing with their community both the challenges and the opportunities that risk might offer My article makes a case for sociological research into non-Western civilizations, where late modernity and reflexivity might not be accompanied by individualisation but rather with collectivism and tradition

Keywords

aesthetic reflexivity, disaster, farmers, laypeople, risk epistemologies, risk perception, Vietnam

Introduction

Beck (1992) contends that Western civilizations have evolved into a risk society as a result of increasing technical failures (e.g the Chernobyl accident) He asserts that the first modernity has given way to a late modernity in which societies must contend with

Corresponding author:

Kien Nguyen-Trung, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University, Menzies Building, 20 Chancellors Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia

Email: Kien.nguyen@monash.edu

1133120

Article

Nguyen-Trung 13

hand, this finding shows that Vietnamese farmers’ reflexive capacity is comparable to that of farmers living in Chernobyl-affected areas (Wynne, 1992) On the other hand, it implies the significance of traditions and culture in constructing Vietnamese farmers’ biographies and risk dispositions This paper argues that sociological research on non-Western civilizations should take into account the context-sensitive forms of reflexivity and risk epistemologies, which might not have been previously articulated in the West.

In sum, I have examined and presented various themes in Vietnamese farmers’ risk knowledge in this research Farmers conceptualised risk in four interrelated ways First, farmers defined risk in terms of their livelihood as rice growers Rice farming is a core value ingrained in their risk culture, which shapes how farmers define and recognise risks Second, farmers viewed risk as an inability to cope with the unpredictability of climatic change and environmental threats as well as the strength of divine force Thus, some farmers accepted risk as something created by God or were at the mercy of other supernatural forces Third, risk is a blend of positive and negative aspects, as well as reward and punishment Farmers usually emphasised the opportunities presented by risk rather than the challenges they would encounter Fourth, farmers defined risk as a collec-tive action of putting their lives at risk They exhibited a risk-taking mentality, believing that it was an integral part of being a rice farmer Farmers portrayed themselves in this decision-making process as a communal identity rather than as a single individual iden-tity since they could share both the benefits and the consequences of taking risks together.

Acknowledgements

The author wants to thank his wife and two daughters for their love, support, and understanding Heartfelt thanks to Associate Professor Helen Forbes-Mewett and Professor Dharmalingam Arunachalam (Monash University) for their tremendous support

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/

or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Monash Postgraduate Publication Award (2021) The author would like to thank Monash University for funding this research

ORCID iD

Kien Nguyen-Trung https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1782-7405

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Author biography

Kien Nguyen-Trung is a research fellow at BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute He is a member of The Qualitative Report’s editorial board and the founder

of the Vietnamese Social Research Methodology His current work aims at facilitating sustainable behaviour and social change in climate change adaptation and disaster risk management His recent publications focus on the social construction of disaster vulnerability, the role of social capi-tal in disaster recovery, and the organised irresponsibility and environmencapi-tal movement in regional Australia

Date submitted 3 April 2021

Date accepted 16 September 2022