Cultural competency for emergency and crisis management: concepts, theories and case studies By Claire Connolly Knox , Brittany “Brie” Haupt (Eds.), New York, NY: Routledge. 2020. pp. 255. $128 (hard cover). ISBN: 9780367321833

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Jason D. Rivera
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13680

BOOK REVIEWS

Cultural competency

for emergency and crisis

management: concepts,

theories and case studies

By Claire Connolly Knox, Brittany “Brie”

Haupt (Eds.), New York, NY: Routledge.

2020. pp. 255. $128 (hard cover).

ISBN: 9780367321833

Jason D. Rivera

Department of Public Management, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New

York, New York, USA

Email: jarivera@jjay.cuny.edu

On September 22, 2020, President Trump signed an

executive order effectively banning cultural competency

training in federal agencies and other government organi-

zations. This executive action, in response to racially moti-

vated protests and civil unrest throughout the country,

sought to end formal acknowledgements that the

United States has and continues to operate in ways that

have disadvantaged various racial and ethnic minority

groups. Moreover, this executive policy restricted federal

organizations from providing culturally competent train-

ing that has been shown to enhance the effectiveness and

efficiency with which these agencies serve diverse popula-

tions (Carrizales, 2010; Elías & Alkadry, 2011).

Along these lines, public administration as a discipline

has long acknowledged the importance of culturally

informed practices and competence as part of its man-

date to enhance the capacity and efficiency of govern-

ment. Although the academic discipline has been

relatively slow in its development of curriculum that

includes cultural competence (Carrizales, 2010), NASPAA

recognizes its inclusion as important in higher education

programs. According to Rubaii and Calarusse (2014), the

manifestation of skills indicative to a public administra-

tion student who has learned about and internalized a

culturally competent curriculum is one that communi-

cates and interacts productively with a diverse and

changing citizenry, in addition to their colleagues at work.

In the realm of emergency management, the need for

cultural competence has been academically and socially

affirmed (Edwards, 2012; Mills & Miller, 2015)—not only

through research, but also through the continuing media

coverage that documents the experiences of minority

populations throughout the United States after almost

every major disaster event. In their book, Cultural Compe-

tency for Emergency and Crisis Management, Knox and

Haupt argue that the need for culturally competent

emergency managers is imperative in our increasingly

diverse and global society, which must not only over-

come legacies of historical discrimination but also

new manifestations of the same. Furthermore, they see

the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA)

previous acknowledgment that preparedness, mitigation,

response, and recovery strategies be developed in ways

that place specific populations’needs at the center of a

whole community approach (FEMA, 2011) as necessitat-

ing the inclusion of cultural competency skills and knowl-

edge to properly accomplish the agency’s mission.

However, to accomplish this goal, they argue that this

must occur not only within the organizational context of

FEMA but also in the higher educational programs that

produce emergency managers.

By attending to broad concepts, theory, and practices

that specifically relate to cultural competence in the

emergency management setting, Knox and Haupt make

a compelling argument about the culturally informed

knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed by emer-

gency managers, in addition to public administrators, to

effectively deliver services to citizens. Along these lines,

the editors of this volume have developed a project that

can be used by instructors and trainers from a variety of

academic and professional backgrounds to develop these

KSAs among future emergency managers, public servants,

and other public personnel. Specifically, this volume

grounds the reader with the needed background and

reinforcing pedagogical tools to acquire and practice

KSAs that reflect a culturally competent emergency

manager and public administrator:

1.The ability to articulate the value of cultural compe-

tence and lifelong learning;

2.Active engagement in self-assessment;

3.Appreciation of diversity;

4. The ability to communicate effectively with diverse

populations; and

5.The initiative to contribute to the institutionalization

of cultural knowledge and cultural competence within

organizational settings to reduce cultural disparities

(Cram, 2017; Cram & Alkadry, 2018; Rice, 2007).

By following Carrizale’s(

2010) framework for integrat-

ing cultural competency into the public administration

curriculum as a guide, Knox and Haupt focus on providing

Received: 6 June 2023Accepted: 7 June 2023

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13680

994 © 2023 by The American Society for Public Administration.Public Admin Rev. 2023;83:994–1002.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/puar