Into the Fire: Disaster and the Remaking of Gender

In August 2003, one of the largest wildfires in Canadian history struck near Kelowna, British Columbia and the surrounding Okanagan Valley, causing  unprecedented  damage. As Shelley Pacholok observes in this innovative study, the turbulence and extreme conditions that followed in the wake of this disaster destabilized an important  area of social life – that of gender relations.

Into the Fire combines insights from gender studies and disaster studies to explore the extent to which notions of “masculinity” and “femininity” are challenged in the wake of crises. Pacholok focuses on how gender relations were simultaneously sustained and disrupted   among those who fought the fire,  drawing on media representations as well as interviews with firefighters . Into the Fire illuminates how disasters can serve as catalysts for new patterns of gender, even in highly masculine spaces.