Disasters and Recovery: Postcolonialising economic geography

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that postcolonial theory will enable economic geographers to reinterpret and reimagine disaster recovery as a process that is not the sole responsibility of the state, and which cannot be gauged by statistically measuring the health of the economy. A postcolonial methodology offers a solid historicization of disaster contexts and how the need to adapt and be resilient amongst marginalised people across the world has its origins in their placation, exploitation, and colonisation. Postcolonial thinking can provide economic geographers with the methodology to unearth how anti-colonial and normative forms of societal and economic organisation may rupture from disasters at the grassroots level. Therefore, adopting a postcolonial methodology in disaster contexts is not merely about trying to understand how a society recovers or moving beyond simple statistical measurements of the economy. It is also about exposing and thinking critically about alternative futures that take seek to address the structures that (re)produce the vulnerabilities which predicate disasters.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationContemporary Economic Geographies
Subtitle of host publicationInspiring, Critical and Plural Perspectives
EditorsSarah Marie Hall, Jennifer Johns
Place of PublicationBristol
PublisherBristol University Press
Chapter27
Pages354-366
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781529220582
ISBN (Print)9781529220575, 9781529220568
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2024

Keywords

  • postcolonialism
  • disasters recovery
  • Puerto Rico
  • food security

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