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Abstract

The recent times have seen several major crises in Asia including the Asian Tsunami affecting Indonesia and Thailand; the Mumbai terrors attacks in India, the Bali bomb blasts in Indonesia, the Fukushima incident in Japan, and recent aviation related tragedies. Despite these, there is a sense that Asia remains resilient. Amongst the repertoire of coping responses seen are also some which involve acceptance, giving in to destiny, fate and divine destiny. Is this dysfunctional, fatalistic and maladaptive coping? Does this promote or impede resilience? Are there cross cultural differences in coping and belief systems that are different from traditional European and American notions and theories of coping and resilience? This presentation draws upon several case studies and attempts to put across the notion that Asians may adopt a different pattern of coping which may be adaptive for their own communities. This paper argues for a context dependent interpretation of resilience and by drawing upon these differences, hopes to expand our thinking in the â??what might work and whereâ?? literature on resilience.

Biography