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

omarperez
Annotation of
In response to

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.

Field Works, La Plaza: Past and Present

I designed this field works trip as a way to allow for interested participants to analyze La Plaza as a case study for LA’s, and view it as a site of the visible intersections of environmental

Ethnographic Sketch, Core Categories

This ethnographic sketch explains in further details two of the central lenses that I use to view vulnerabilites at La Plaza: urban expansion/renewal and multiculturalism.