Who narrates disaster? sciences, materials, and bereaved families in the Sewol investigation commission

Abstract

A disaster investigation commission is a public institution that investigates, collects, processes, and analyzes materials at the after-disaster site to produce stories and knowledge. The investigation has been commonly understood to be an area exclusive to science and technology experts. However, various non-experts, including disaster victims and bereaved families are also involved in the disaster investigation process. Despite their significance, how disaster investigation commissions and non-experts meet in the investigation process is lack description. This thesis takes the South Korean Sewol Investigation Commission (SIC), which operated from 2017 to 2018, as a case study to see how bereaved families dealt with materials at the site of the disaster investigation. In order to analyze bereaved families’ experiences and knowledge, this thesis analyzed oral testimonial books of bereaved families. Original interviews with families and relevant experts were also conducted. In addition, related materials such as archival documents and images of bereaved family organizations, proceedings of investigation commissions, governmental documents, historical archives, and newspaper articles were reviewed. This study shows that disaster knowledge of the disaster investigation commission and the identities of bereaved families are mutually formed as creating disaster memory together. This implies that a scientific investigation process has limitations if only authorized scientific experts participate. This study documents a case where bereaved families co-produced knowledge with, but mostly worked in parallel to, authorized disaster experts. Their special status as bereaved family members contributed to a new mode of knowledge, and they also introduced previously unexamined materials to a disaster investigation. It marks a turning point in the history of Korean disaster science.