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This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a developing urban context (Dagupan City, Pangasinan). It highlights the specific mechanisms by which urban traders engage the Philippines’ more pervasive and highly resilient “culture of disaster” vis-à-vis conditions of chronic natural hazard.

This study relies predominately on the traditional anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal/semi-structured interviews to gather relevant project data. Supplementing these two core methods are findings derived from secondary sources like local and provincial newspapers, government records, public and university libraries, and census findings.

Findings suggest that a continual cycle of disaster impact and response does not overtly affect small retailers’ entrepreneurial initiative. It becomes clear that a persistent threat of natural hazards fosters a rather fatalistic sense of self-reliance.

Study was designed and funded as a quick-response study; therefore, the research timeframe was rather compressed and the informant pool somewhat limited.

The Philippines is widely recognized as a “culture of disaster” given its volatile position along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” and “Typhoon Alley.” This distinction assumes added dimension as the effects of global climate change become increasingly pervasive at the local level.

This paper adds ethnographic detail to a growing body of data on small business resilience within disaster prone areas of the Global South amid intensifying global climate change.

This thirty-second volume in the REA series represents a joint effort between two former students of Norbert Dannhaeuser, who edited REA together with his colleague Cynthia Werner from 2001 to 2005, and who served as the chair of both Donald's and Ty's M.A. thesis committees at Texas A&M University. Norbert also was chair of Ty's Ph.D. committee. Donald was just settling on Japan as his geographic focus in anthropology around 1993, and although this was not Norbert's specialty he was very familiar with the canon of postwar Japanese village studies. Introducing Donald to this body of work had a tremendous influence on his academic development and his future path. Prior to this more intensive and focused guidance, however, it was taking Norbert's core Anthropological Theory (ANTH 410) course at Texas A&M in the autumn term of 1992 – exactly 20 years ago – that convinced Donald to commit himself to a career in anthropology in the first place. Similarly, Ty's career development as an anthropologist owes a considerable debt to Norbert. The knowledge acquired from him both in the field (the Philippines) and classroom (Texas A&M University) has proven indispensable in influencing Ty's geographical and topical focus. Both of us would like to take this opportunity to thank Norbert for all of his guidance and encouragement. We humbly dedicate this volume of REA to him in honor of all of his contributions to the field of anthropology, and also out of gratitude for his support when we were just starting out.

This paper examines how natural disasters and the conditions they precipitate can encourage manifestations of globalization on the local level. The transnational phenomenon this paper is concerned with is retail trade concentration which, among other things, involves the spread of large retail facilities outside of downtown business districts. The end result of this process is often a devitalized urban core. The study compares the recent historical experience of two provincial urban communities in the Philippines: Dagupan City and San Fernando City. Downtown Dagupan endured considerable damage from a major earthquake in 1990, while the city center of San Fernando was only minimally impacted by the disaster. Paying particular attention to the various political, social, and economic dynamics underlying post-earthquake developments in both Dagupan and San Fernando, this work suggests that, although natural catastrophes may lead to a revitalization of downtown life, they may ultimately subject affected urban centers to a significant hollowing out in the post-disaster context as a result of increased trade concentration.

Four years ago I co-edited a book with Geert De Neve and two of his colleagues at the University of Sussex – Jeff Pratt and Peter Luetchford. The chapters had originally been presented at the Hidden Hands in the Market workshop held at Sussex in April of 2007 and organized by Geert, Jeff, and Peter. After hearing about the workshop I wrote to Geert, hoping to scoop up a few bits of gold for REA, but as it turned out I had struck the mother lode. Our co-edited book was Volume 28 of REA – Hidden Hands in the Market: Ethnographies of Fair Trade, Ethical Consumption, and Corporate Social Responsibility (2008) – one of the installments that I remain proudest of, and the first REA volume under Emerald with which I was directly involved. The volume explores the relationship between producers and consumers, focusing on its moral and political content, in a very broad sense.