Aftershocks of Disaster : Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm

Two years after Hurricane Maria hit, Puerto Ricans are still reeling from its effects and aftereffects. Aftershocks collects poems, essays and photos from survivors of Hurricane Maria detailing their determination to persevere. The concept of "aftershocks" is used in the context of earthquakes to describe the jolts felt after the initial quake, but no disaster is a singular event. Aftershocks of Disaster examines the lasting effects of hurricane Maria, not just the effects of the wind or the rain, but delving into what followed: state failure, social abandonment, capitalization on human misery, and the collective trauma produced by the botched response. Copyright 5 Table of Contents 6 Foreword 10 Introduction: Aftershocks of Disaster 14 Part I: Openings 31 The Trauma Doctrine 32 ¡Ay María! 48 Part II: Narrating the Trauma 73 WAPA Radio: Voices amid the Silence and Desperation 74 María’s Death Toll: On the Crucial Role of Puerto Rico’s Investigative Journalists 83 (note for a friend who wants to commit suicide after the hurricane) 90 “I’m Quite Comfortable”: Abandonment and Resignation after María 92 Narrating the Unnameable 100 If a Tree Falls in an Island: The Metaphysics of Colonialism 103 This Was Meant to Be a Hurricane Diary 105 Another Haphazard Gesture 109 Part III: Representing the Disaster 120 Our Fellow Americans: Why Calling Puerto Ricans “Americans” Will Not Save Them 121 US Media Depictions of Climate Migrants: The Recent Case of the Puerto Rican “Exodus” 133 Accountability and Representation: Photographic Coverage after the Disaster 146 Lifting the Veil: Portraiture as a Tool for Bilateral Representation 167 The Importance of Politically Engaged Artistic and Curatorial Practices in the Aftermath of Hurricane María 183 Si no pudiera hacer arte, me iba: The Aesthetics of Disaster as Catharsis in Contemporary Puerto Rican Art 201 Art and a Threshold Called Dignity 213 Picking up the Pieces 220 Part IV: Capitalizing on the Crisis 226 sinvergüenza sin nación/sinvergüenza with no nation 227 Puerto Rico’s Unjust Debt 233 Puerto Rico’s Debt Is Odious 246 Dismantling Public Education in Puerto Rico 255 Puerto Rico’s Fight for a Citizen Debt Audit: A Strategy for Public Mobilization and a Fair Reconstruction 271 Rhizomatic 278 Part V: Transforming Puerto Rico 281 Looking for a Way Forward in the Past: Lessons from the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party 282 Psychoanalysis as a Political Act after María 289 Authenticating Loss and Contesting Recovery: FEMA and the Politics of Colonial Disaster Management 304 The Energy Uprising: A Community-Driven Search for Sustainability and Sovereignty in Puerto Rico 317 Community Kitchens: An Emerging Movement? 327 Building Accountability and Secure Futures: An Interview with Mari Mari Narváez 336 Afterword: Critique and Decoloniality in the Face of Crisis, Disaster, and Catastrophe 349 Acknowledgments 360 Contributor Bios 362 Index 371 Back Cover 397 This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/21/2019 398 An in-depth look at Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and the preexisting crisis that conditioned this historic disaster