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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.

The authors are Paul Farmer, Bruce Nuzeye, Sara Stulac and Salmaan Keshorjee. Farmer is a doctor and medical anthrapologist and has a human rights based approach to global healthcare. Nizeye is the chief of infrastructure for PIH in Rawanda. Stulac is an associate physician in the division of global health equity. Salmaan researches global health and social medicine at Harvard. They are all collectively professionally equipted in respect to emergency response because they all are familiar with healthcare from their fields.

THe main findings/arguments in this article is what is humantiariasm in the face of sexual violence. How sexual violence became the perfect goal for human rights activists (medical outreach) to address. The article explains human rights movements in African countries and exemplifies what happens to those who live in war strewn countries; how sexual assualt and rape are crimes, specifically to women and the questino if men and those who are transgender are excluded and how to fix it.