Public Bibliography on Occupy Sandy

Several partners have asked for research on Occupy Sandy, one of the largest grassroots relief organizations to coordinate aid following Hurricane Sandy’s landfall in the New York/New Jersey area from October 2012 until the present day.

In response, we’ve created a public bibliography on Occupy Sandy. The bibliography is meant to be curated (selected for usefulness), rather than exhaustive. It includes a mix of academic literature, journalism, websites, graphics, documentaries, presentations, and even some internal documents from Occupy Sandy. If you have anything to add, please let us know in the comments section. This list is also available via Zotero public groups, where you can add your own citations, comments, and annotations.

Occupy Sandy is a grassroots, non-hierarchical community-led disaster relief network whose organizational structure, values, and practices came out of experience in the Occupy Wall Street movement focused on wealth disparity and the corporatization of politics. Following Hurricane Sandy’s landfall in the New York City region, Occupy Sandy coordinated more than 60,000 volunteers and raised nearly one million dollars in disaster aid. Some researchers have called Occupy Sandy a “grassroots disaster relief network” rather than an “emergent response group” or formal, institutionalized response groups such as the Red Cross, and are primarily interested in how Occupy Sandy operated so successfully with a relatively novel organizational structure (Ambinder 2013). Others write about how their politics created a certain type of organization and genre of aid different from the official response (Kilkenny 2012; Giraud 2013). Yet other sources simply describe how Occupy Sandy worked, take issue with particular events, or document the network in action.

Access the bibliography here.

Ambinder, Eric, and David Jennings. 2013. The Resilient Social Network @Occupy Sandy #SuperstormSandy. Falls Church, VA: The Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute: 12-13.

Giraud, Esteve. 2013. “Interview with Devin Balkind: Sahana and Occupy Sandy Relief Efforts.” Sahana Software Foundation.

Kilkenny, Allison. 2012. “Occupy Sandy Efforts Highlight Need for Solidarity, Not Charity.” The Nation, November 5.