Mixed messages: tacit communication emanating from non-human actants in disaster contexts

Post-disaster reportage frequently focuses on catastrophic and harrowing human impacts together with heroic acts of mercy: aid agencies benefit from the subsequent mobilisation of donors. In the aftermath analytical reviews evaluate both success and failure to reflexively improve relief outcomes in future aid deployments. Both activities tend to concentrate on the experiences of key individuals in major organisations associated with disaster recovery and reconstruction. Little consideration is given to the influence of the non-human aid they deploy beyond the recognition that they are vital and necessary. Similarly, government and NGO policies and procedures are regarded as the mechanisms by which aid is distributed. None of this is counter-intuitive or surprising, yet there may be another dimension. Actor Network Theory (ANT) was conceived as a problem-solving action research tool predicated upon the notion that non-human actants can play an equal role in problems, and while ANT has previously been utilised in monthly to consider the challenges faced when integrating high-level technology systems with humans this paper speculates that the technique could also reveal useful insights during disaster recovery and reconstruction. This paper uses a detailed case study to suggest that a) nonhuman actants in disaster contexts may exert influences that were not foreseen when they were deployed, and that b) human actants may exert unintended influences: critically these actants include researchers and reporters. The research concludes that ANT principles have the potential to surface new perspectives in complex post-disaster contexts, but that the conduct of a purist ANT investigation would be highly problematic and potentially disruptive to the reconstruction process.