Search

I am interested in seeing how social ties and networks have been used to cope with (un)natural disasters. My research focus on places under disasters conditions such as Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in which social ties have made the difference between life and death. Furthermore, “natural” disaster has been used to approved austerity measures and unjust policies to impoverished communities like in New Orleans after Katrina. These policies were not new, as they are rooted in structures of power to preserve the status quo. Yet, people have resisted, “through a network of branches, cultures, and geographies” that has stimulated a reflective process of looking within for solutions rather than outside. As often this outside solutions are not only detached from community’s reality but can perpetuate social injustices and inequalities.

McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. A. (Eds.). (2007). Black geographies and the politics of place. South End Press.

Bullard, R. D., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2009). Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Westview Press.

In the College of New Jersey Hurrican Sandy oral history, The oral collected some information about residents affected by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. All the stories about the effects of such a hazard include all groups and classes of people, such as poor or rich, young and old, and families and single people. Hurrican Sandy's damages were distributed among all groups of people, by destroying houses, drowning people, and lost of electricity and water for days and months. This oral history shows the different stories and events of all the different groups that were affected really bad in the Hurrican