RECONSIDERING CONVERGENCE AND CONVERGER LEGITIMACY IN RESPONSE TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER

Abstract

The World Trade Center disaster generated many of the features seen in other disasters in the U.S., including post-disaster convergence. We conceptualize emergency management activities as taking place within a multilocational “response milieu,” and we suggest that the study of convergence should focus on the negotiated legitimacy of people in and wishing to enter it. We discuss the five types of personal convergers and how the access of each of these groups to the response milieu was related to their legitimation status. We then identify two additional forms of convergence: supporters or fans, and those who came to mourn or to memorialize. We conclude by discussing implications for policy.

Citation

Kendra, J.M. and Wachtendorf, T. (2003), "RECONSIDERING CONVERGENCE AND CONVERGER LEGITIMACY IN RESPONSE TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER DISASTER", Clarke, L. (Ed.) Terrorism and Disaster: New Threats, New Ideas (Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, Vol. 11), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 97-122. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0196-1152(03)11007-1