Nandini Gunewardena is adjunct professor at Western Washington University. Mark Schuller is assistant professor of anthropology and African American studies at the City University of New York.

Capitalizing on Catastrophe critically examines the motivations and agendas that fuel the political will to act in the name of humanitarian assistance to the large-scale crises and human tragedies of our times. Using diverse examples of disaster from around the world, the authors tease apart the complex continuum of causality, response, and consequence—asking the basic questions of who pays, who profits, and to what effect. In so doing, they put a human face to disaster response, and that face is not a pretty one. Nandini Gunewardena and Mark Schuller have pulled together an incredibly strong collection of case studies, framed in a sharp and clear analysis with pragmatic suggestions for change. In a world of escalating chaos and misery, this collection offers the reader a useful tool to assess recent experiences. More importantly, Capitalizing on Catastrophe offers pragmatic strategies to emphasize human needs in humanitarian response.

• Part 1 Part I. Framing the Capitalization of CatastrophesChapter 2 Chapter 1. Human Security versus Neoliberal Approaches to Disaster RecoveryChapter 3 Chapter 2. Deconstructing the Disaster after the Disaster: Conceptualizing Disaster CapitalismChapter 4 Chapter 3. Through a Glass, Darkly: Humanitarianism and EmpirePart 5 Part II. Tourism as ReconstructionChapter 6 Chapter 4. International Tourism and Disaster Capitalism: The Case of Hurricane Mitch in HondurasChapter 7 Chapter 5. Peddling Paradise, Rebuilding Serendib: The 100-Meter Refugees versus the Tourism Industry in Post-tsunami Sri LankaChapter 8 Chapter 6. The Resilience of Vulnerable Households: Adjusting to Neoliberal Capitalism in the Aftermath of Hurricane IrisPart 9 Part III. Exposing Katrina: Class, Race, and DisplacementChapter 10 Chapter 7. Race, Class, and the Politics of Death: Critical Responses to Hurricane KatrinaChapter 11 Chapter 8. Disaster, Displacement and Employment: Distortion of Labor Markets During Post-Katrina ReconstructionChapter 12 Chapter 9. Class Inequality, Liberal Bad Faith, and Neoliberalism: the True Disaster of KatrinaPart 13 Part IV. Prolonging Recovery: Bypassing Accountability and TransparencyChapter 14 Chapter 10. Capitalization of Post-9/11 RecoveryChapter 15 Chapter 11. The Foul Odor of Capital: The Union Carbide Disaster in Bhopal, IndiaPart 16 Part V. Dividends of Conflict: Reconstruction as ReformChapter 17 Chapter 12. "Haiti is Finished!" Haiti's End of History Meets the Ends of CapitalismChapter 18 Chapter 13. After the Storm: The Aftermath of Guatemala's Post-Civil WarPart 19 Part VI. Conclusion: Envisioning Alternatives: Seven Pragmatic Proposals to Advance Human Security in Disaster Assistance and Recovery