Beyond Disaster

Melissa L. Rosario holds a PhD in cultural anthropology and Latinx studies. She is the founder of the Center for Embodied Pedagogy and Action in Puerto Rico.

“Viscerally and analytically compelling, Beyond Disaster is as committed to content as it is to surrendering to form. Melissa Rosario takes on the indomitable task of decolonizing and reinventing studies of Puerto Rico by writing freely and courageously to name and recognize emotions and to practice gestures of care that will not reduce this writing simply to text. She boldly and rightfully asks us to think beyond conventional readings and understandings of crisis, debt, and violence and confront the metaphysics of colonialism.”—Gina Athena Ulysse, author of Why Haiti Needs New Narratives: A Post-Quake Chronicle"Beyond Disaster merges academic, ethnographic and journalistic approaches while staying attuned to cultivating afro-indigenous queer connections to land, grounded in embodied, spiritual commitment to social change in times of global climate crisis. This sense of urgency is met here with a contagious strategic optimism, stitched together with so much heart." —Maritza Stanchich, University of Puerto Rico-RÍo Piedras

• AcknowledgmentsPrologue: The Heart SpaceIntroduction: Another CountryPart I: Debts: A Metaphysics of Colonialism1. Shouldering the Crisis2. School Closures and Student Strikes3. Displacement and Land PrivatizationPart II: Truth Wealth: Pathways toward Liberation4. Comedores Sociales: Feeding Mutual Aid5. Patio Taller: Crafting Afro-Diasporic Possibilities6. La Colmena Cimarrona: Maroon Farming7. El Hormiguero: An Okupa in Santurce8. El Llamado: Sustaining Movements over the Long Haul9. Retoyando Futuros Ancestrales: CEPA’s Healing Justice PracticeConclusion: Embodying Freedom, a PraisesongCoda: Sovereignty and Co-liberation in Times of Climate JusticeAppendix: Privileges and Responsibilities for Islanders and Diaspora Puerto RicansNotesBibliography