The Coloniality of Disaster

In her recent article, “The Coloniality of Disaster: Race, Empire, and the Temporal Logics of Emergency in Puerto Rico, USA,” Bonilla uses the case of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico to discuss the coloniality of disaster; exploring how catastrophic events like hurricanes, earthquakes, but also other forms political and economic crisis deepen the fault lines of long-existing racial and colonial histories. She argues that disaster capitalism needs to be understood as a form of racio-colonial capitalism and that this in turn requires us to question our understandings of both “resilience” and “recovery.” Yarimar Bonnilla will be in conversation with artist and scholar Coco Fusco.