Disaster, Debt, and ‘Underdevelopment’: The Cunning of Colonial-Capitalism in the Caribbean

Abstract

This article provides a critical overview of the structural forces exacerbating risk related to disasters in the Caribbean. It focuses on the historical antecedents and socio-environmental consequences of extreme weather events across the region via an anti-colonial analysis of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Dorian in 2019. The authors contend that the logics, practices and debts of colonial-capitalist development, neoliberal exploitation and post-independence corruption continue to reduce resilience and threaten public health in the region. They also detail the role that political economy and social geography play in the face of disasters. They end by proposing that future critiques of and solutions to vulnerability, disaster, and catastrophe in the Caribbean be more attentive to the historical trajectories of imperialism, debt and ‘underdevelopment’.

Researching Natural Hazards: The Harmful Legacy of Colonialism in Geoscience.

“…For example, it was noted that despite deep Māori information and knowledge on earthquakes in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, their knowledge is eliminated from booklets and brochures (McBride, 2017), however there are increasing effects of Māori"s inclusion in urban recovery (Hobbs et al 2022). Colonialism influences development as well as, socioeconomic and political mobility, which in turn, influenced risk, exposure, vulnerability as well as, disaster response and recovery (Rivera, 2020;Gahman et al 2021).…”

Replacing Sustainable Development: Potential Frameworks for International Cooperation in an Era of Increasing Crises and Disasters

“…To switch in this way means a reversal of recent attempts by people and organisations working in DRM to justify their efforts in relation to the achievement of the SDGs [64]. Although it is true that the SDGs cannot be achieved without successful attention to reducing disaster risk, this review has shown that it is also true that the SDGs cannot be achieved regardless, and they promote a policy paradigm that actually increases disaster risk, through increased ecological overshoot [59] and local vulnerabilities [39]. Unlike the term Sustainable Development, the term 'metadisaster' may be useful in bringing attention to those socio-political economic systems that have led to the unfolding situation of increasing disasters around the world.…”

“…This concern with how the myth of Sustainable Development could encourage further environmental damage is also found in relation to the increasing vulnerability of communities as their environments become more unstable. For instance, one study from the Caribbean on the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Dorian in 2019 found that the logic, practices, and debts of colonial-capitalist development and neoliberal exploitation had increased the vulnerability of the affected populations [39]. Such findings have significant implications for the way international cooperation addresses the task of Disaster Risk Reduction, which I return to below.…”

Island Tourism: Vulnerable or Resistant to Overtourism?

“…Islands reliant on tourism may see the local or national government evict residents from their land either by decree or under the guise of rehabilitation with the intent of tourism development. There have been a number of such examples in Sri Lanka [25], Barbuda [24]; and more generally in the Caribbean [26].…”