In search of a sustainable refuge -- What a volcano revealed about the vulnerability of small island states -- Disaster relief as foreign policy: when poverty, conflict, and catastrophe collide -- What protections and benefits? Coloniality and citizenship in the U.S. territories -- Moving forward: natural disasters may be inevitable; good U.S. policy is not.
Summary:
"Focusing on Central America and the Caribbean, State of Disaster traces the development of U.S. refugee, humanitarian, and immigration policies in response to the 1995-2004 series of volcanic eruptions in Monserrat in the Leeward Islands, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998, and the back-to-back Hurricanes Irma and Maria of 2017 that devastated the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The case of Irma and Maria reveal afresh the neocolonial realities that sentence citizens of U.S. territories to a liminal and unequal political status that makes economic growth difficult and recovery from natural disaster especially daunting. Reflecting what technical social science and science studies indicate but also obscure, Garcia argues that it is high time that U.S. policymakers create desperately needed new policies and suggests ways to amend or create new law altogether. She reminds us that while natural disasters are impossible to prevent, much of the devastation that occurs in the wake of natural disasters is artificial and can be mitigated"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.