Anti-Colonial Reconstruction is a current of emergent disaster response that understands rebuilding as a struggle against colonial dependency and for material self-determination [@resistancecaribbean2017; @onsiegessolar2024]. In this current, water systems, solar systems, community spaces, and local decision-making are built not only to repair damage but to reduce dependence on colonial infrastructures and imposed recovery models.
Approach
This current treats disaster as inseparable from the long, ongoing disaster of colonial rule, debt, austerity, and extraction. It therefore frames reconstruction as political struggle rather than technical restoration.
Its methods include autonomous infrastructure, community-maintained water and energy systems, territorial self-management, and rebuilding that resists imposed dependency.
Key terms
Key texts
- Anti-Colonial Reconstruction and Autonomous Infrastructure in Emergent Disaster Response
- Centros de Apoyo Mutuo in Post-Maria Puerto Rico
- Political Currents in Emergent Disaster Response
Key organizations
- Centros de Apoyo Mutuo and related Puerto Rico formations
- Mutual Aid Disaster Relief Puerto Rico / Caribbean rebuild efforts
- community-managed solar and water projects across Borik�n
Critiques and limits
This current depends on long-term material capacity under hostile conditions. Colonial policies, ports, debt, and energy dependence can block or slow even well-organized reconstruction. Still, the current is important because it reframes recovery as decolonization rather than as mere return to a pre-disaster normal.