Presentation short abstract

This paper examines how colonial histories and discursive framings shape hurricane vulnerability and mobility in the Eastern Caribbean. Using governmentality and political ecology, it shows how “vulnerabilisation” renders residents disposable, reproducing colonial inequalities in climate governance.

Presentation long abstract

The lived experiences of people affected by hurricanes are deeply intertwined with discursive framings. Who has to (be) move(d) and who gets to stay amid increasing climate impacts is hierarchical and embedded in (neo)colonial inequalities. Combining insights from governmentality analysis and political ecology, this paper analyses how process of “vulnerabilisation” frame some communities as unsafe and “inevitably uninhabitable” (Farbotko et al., 2023), thereby rendering them “disposable” (Weatherill, 2023). Drawing on empirical research from the Eastern Caribbean, we show how colonial land use and settlement patterns continue to shape exposure to hurricanes and access to protection, shelter and evacuation infrastructure. Climate (im)mobility governance often prioritizes wealthy tourists over local residents, legitimizing resettlement from “physically vulnerable” areas. Our findings indicate that such governance reproduces colonial patterns of vulnerability, leading to unequal mobility outcomes. When reframing vulnerability as actively reproduced, transforming those structural drivers that (re)produce it, becomes a key solution for climate resilience.

Farbotko, C., Boas, I., Dahm, R., Kitara, T., Lusama, T., & Tanielu, T. (2023). Reclaiming open climate adaptation futures. Nature Climate Change, 13(8), 750–751. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01733-1

Weatherill, C. K. (2023). Resisting climate change vulnerability: Feminist and decolonial insights. International Politics. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-023-00523-y