Skip to main content

Search

Omar Pérez: Submarine Roots, Resisting (un)natural disasters

omarperez

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.

Annotated Bibliography (EIS)

This link complements the Essay Bibliography of the Project Environmental Justice framing implications in the EIS.

EPA Database on EISs

This (EIS) database provides information about EISs provided by federal agencies, and EPA's comments concerning the EIS process.

pece_annotation_1473103469

jaostrander

One of the main arguments of this article is that there is a large focus on nuclear safety but instead there should be a focus on emergency preparedness for when there are nuclear disasters. Schmid argues that safety and preparedness needs to take a higher priority than keeping industry secrets. Individual nuclear industries should to an extent be sharing reactor designs so in the event of an emergency responding agencies know the equipment they will be facing. 

pece_annotation_1481597043

jaostrander

Byron J. Good is a medical anthropologist and Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Harvard. Good's writings have primarily focused on the cultural  meaning of mental illnesses, patient narratives of illness, and development of mental health systems.

pece_annotation_1473631684

jaostrander

"So as Haiti approaches the fifth anniversary of its cholera epidemic later this year, the main hope for eradication rests on political and legal pressure on the U.N. to come up with the money."

"With few exceptions, donor nations and nongovernmental organizations insist on keeping control of their projects, which are set according to their own priorities."