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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 1 JULY, 2018
In late April, UWI Geographers
Dr GabrielleThongs
and Dr Levi Gahman were invited to Columbia
University in New York to present their Caribbean-
centred research on the nexus of disaster vulnerability,
social inequality, colonial underdevelopment and
global capitalism. The conference was held at the
Columbia Law School and organized by the Unpayable
Debt: Capital, Violence, and the NewGlobal Economy
working group of Columbia University’s Centre for the
Study of Social Difference. The aim of the gathering
was to bring together scholars, journalists, activists and
artists to illustrate how new forms of extraction and
debt are operating in the region, generating poverty
and increasing risk.
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor
of The UWI, delivered the opening keynote speech.
He spoke of the historical damages caused by
dispossession and slavery, current movements for
global reparations, and the efforts ofThe UWI’s Centre
for Reparation Research.
Dr Thongs spoke about factors that produce
both social vulnerability and resilience as a way to
determine the most effective disaster risk reduction
strategies for the Caribbean. DrThongs said what were
once predictable shifts in the wet and dry months are
now erratic patterns of atmospheric tumult. She said
GEOGRAPHY
AS THE HURRICANE SEASON GETS UNDER WAY, RESEARCHERS FIND:
The poor suffer more from
NATURAL DISASTERS
UWI Geography department represents Caribbean at Columbia University conference on political economy
erosion, habitat devastation, wildlife loss, crop
destruction, food import bills, and emotional distress.
Rising sea levels, torrential rain, recurrent flooding and
intensified hardships in the face of these things have
become a “new normal,” she said.
One key finding offered by Dr Thongs’ combined
society-environment approach is the significant role
poverty plays in disaster survival. Her evidence showed
that across the region, in most instances, hazard
exposure may be relatively the same, but being poor
drastically increases one’s exposure to a disaster and
increases one’s potential harm.
Dr Thongs said impoverished people across
region, to a disproportionate degree, must live in the
most disaster-prone areas as these are appreciably
cheaper than those of more protected backdrops. Such
susceptible areas become more unsafe during and after
extreme events because of how inaccessible they are
for emergency service vehicles and first responders.
Dr Gahman gave an overview of how political
structures and social orders, as well as certain cultural
norms and economic relationships established via
colonialism, are linked to and perpetuated by global
capitalism and the state. Through an integrated focus
on gender, class, race, and political ecology, DrGahman
highlighted how debt, dependency, and vulnerability
How is this“Geography”?
Geographers try to understand, explain, and sometimes even change, the processes and forces that shape and organize Earth. From the
environmental and ecological to the cultural and social, geographers are concerned with contexts and connectedness, as well as influence and power. Geographers
are forever preoccupied with why the world is arranged the way it is, how it is changing, and how relationships tie everything together – be they geophysical or
geopolitical. The above work thus represents one small joint contribution to these broad efforts. Dr Thongs’ research on risk reduction demonstrates how disaster
planning and spatial modeling can be used to reduce social vulnerability, while Dr Gahman’s work on development justice illustrates how colonialism, capitalism,
and taken-for-granted gender norms continue to reverberate politically, materially, and even psychologically. Dr Gahman says: “Natural disasters are never immune
to social, economic, and cultural forces and values, i.e. they are always political.”
Invited speakers of the Frontiers of Debt conference held at Columbia University in April, 2018. Front row, from left: David Schalliol (St Olaf College); Rima Brusi-Gil de la Madrid (Lehman College); Greg Guannel
(University of the Virgin Islands); Hilda Lloréns (University of Rhode Island); Sarah Muir (CUNY); Frances Negrón-Muntaner (Columbia University); Ed Morales (independent journalist); Sarabel Santos (independent artist);
Joel Cintrón Arbasetti (Centro de Periodismo Investigativo); Gabrielle Thongs (University of the West Indies); Kristen Buras (Georgia State University); Levi Gahman (University of the West Indies). Back row, from left (the
three men on the right side of the group): Matan Cohen (Columbia University); Jason Wozniak (San José University); Westenley Alcenat (Fordham University).
PHOTO: FRANCES NEGRÓN-MUNTANER
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles
spoke of the historical
damages caused by
dispossession and slavery,
current movements for
global reparations, and the
efforts of The UWI’s Centre
for Reparation Research.
there are more serious weather events, which demands
more funding, resources, and labour to prevent
escalations in damage and harm.
Pointing to widespread agreement based upon
both meteorological data and lived experience,
Dr Thongs said the Caribbean region’s seasons are
changing, with consequences being increased coastal
