A Disaster as Catalyst for Mobilization: The Convergence of Climate Justice and Agroecology in Puerto Rico

• In Event: 3561 - Frontline Communities and Struggles for Racial, Environmental, and Economic Justice

Abstract

On September 20, 2017 Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico; the destruction was unprecedented. In the wake of the storm, grassroots mobilization for a sustainable and just recovery for Puerto Rico took root. This paper provides a qualitative analyses of the Just Recovery coalition formation using social movement scholarship and world-systems approach, informed by a de-colonial perspective. More explicit in this work is the intent to illuminate grievances embedded in socio-historical and political conflict as a means to contextualize sources of contention contributing to the rise of collaborative collective action and the convergence of several organizations. Study of the JustRecovery campaign provides an opportunity to explore how environmental instability from a natural disaster can become a catalyst for mobilization when deep-rooted grievances become more salient. It provides a theoretical contribution recognizing strengths of the political process model (McAdam 1982) and the framing perspective (Snow et al. 1986), but more so it emphasizes the importance and need to delineate historical context through world-systems theory, specifically with regard to the tensions arising from coloniality. Using archival data and the collation of extant literature, this work draws connections between historical, socio-political processes that have contributed to contention by examining policies and legislation tied to historic and present day colonialism in Puerto Rico, with a focus on food systems and agrarian change.

Author

• Thelma Iris Velez, The Ohio State University