Wildfires and Homelessness

When disaster reveals the hidden discourse

Vision

In 2020, Oregon was devastated by wildfires. Homes and entire communities were destroyed. Smoke and wood particles filled the air, leading to the worst air quality in the state’s recorded history. Yet not all who were affected by this catastrophe were treated equally. Some people without homes were described as “evacuees” while others were called “homeless.” Inspired by this disparity in the public conversation, a research project was born.

The goals were:

Investigate media representations to explore the differences in representation of victims
Identify key vocabulary and phrases that illustrate the popular narrative
Argue for compassion, regardless of housing status, as climate change continues to displace Oregonians

Doers

This project was a collaboration between Janet Cowal, Emily Leickly, Idowu Ajibade, Maude Hines,
Stefanie Knowlton, and Marta Petteni.

Process

The researchers examined news items from local news sources with the largest audiences across print, radio, and television: The Oregonian newspaper, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and FOX-12 TV.
They searched for our keyword “wildfire” on each news outlet’s website and reviewed search results between
September 7 and September 30, 2020—the acute phase of the wildfire emergency. They focused only on articles that discussed the impact of wildfires on Oregonians; we excluded articles reporting on non-human impacts and effects on institutionalized people. These were then analyzed for themes and content using discourse analysis tools.

Finish Line, and Beyond

Click to read the research paper

cowal-et-al-2022-natural-disaster-differential-media-portrayals-of-wildfire-displacement-and-homelessness-in-portland Download

Or listen to a discussion between Maude Hines and Janet Cowal: Media Portrayals of Wildfire Displacement and Homelessness recorded for the PDXplores podcast

This project inspired future work for housing justice in Portland, and investigating the relationship between houselessness, nature, and natural resources.

References and Recommended Reading

Bilewicz, M., & Soral, W. (2020). Hate speech epidemic. The dynamic effects of derogatory language on intergroup relations and political radicalization. Political Psychology, 41,3–33.

Blaikie, P. M., Cannon, T., Davis, I., & Wisner, B. (1994). At risk: Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability, and disasters. Routledge.

Cowal J, & Leung G. Activist Applied Linguistics. (2020). In Conrad, S., Hartig, A.J. & Santellmann, L. (Eds.) The Cambridge Introduction to Applied Linguistics.