ATS3626 Global disasters: Catastrophe and social change

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. 1

   A critical understanding of the role specific disasters and disasters in general have played in the development of global society;

2. 2

   A thorough knowledge of how contested representations and understandings of disaster have explored issues of responsibility, mitigation, vulnerability and social change;

3. 3

   A critical understanding of the various interpretations that inform the historical and contemporary analysis of these phenomena;

4. 4

   A stronger understanding of the ethical challenges of disaster response;

5. 5

   Enhanced skills in the critical and analytical reading of a variety of texts, including contemporary documents, polemical literature, historical scholarship visual representations and web-based evidence, and specifically the development of skills in source criticism, critical reading, the development of research and writing skills, especially the use of evidence and primary sources, analysing different interpretations of an event or issue, organising and defending an argument, and writing with precision and imagination;

6. 6

   The capacity to independently develop an original research project.