Mariah Austin | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Mariah Austin
Title: If the Creek Don’t Rise (or it Did): An Ohio Case Study on People’s Perceptions, Influences, and Experiences of Floods
Major: Anthropology
Minor: Earth Science
Advisors: Setsuko Matsuzawa

This independent study looks at the relationships between perceptions, floods, and experiences within Ohio (and a few outliers outside of Ohio). The data will represent different aspects that contribute to perceptions, such as demographics, social factors, and environmental factors. The demographics data, social factors, and some of the environmental data were collected by interviews and surveys. The rest of the environmental data were collected through the OARDC and FEMA. These different types of data were analyzed with multiple chi-square tests, content analysis, and finding trends. There are four different theories that had been utilized to understand and interpret data that was collected. The four are Rob Nixon’s idea of slow violence, Asa Boholm’s additions to cultural theory and risk through narratives, Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky’s perspective on Cultural theory and risk relating to technology and the environment, and lastly, Pierre Bourdieu’s forms of capitals. In conclusion, this study provides personal accounts of floods in Ohio (and a few outside) that range from basement floods to historical floods to hurricane type flooding in Florida and New York. These accounts range from things that happened during and after the events, recovery processes, and hopes for changes. Along with this, the study provides an idea on what people believe is affecting their perceptions in both a qualitative and quantitative sense. It interconnects social data, demographic data, and environmental data to try to get a sense of how perceptions about floods and/or precipitation are created.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.