Reconstruction on emsenn.net

Anti-Colonial Reconstruction

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Anti-colonial reconstruction is a current of disaster response that treats rebuilding as a struggle against colonial dependency, debt, austerity, and externally imposed recovery models [@resistancecaribbean2017; @onsiegessolar2024].

Within emergent disaster response, the term matters because some disasters occur inside already colonized and structurally subordinated territories. In those settings, rebuilding is not only technical repair. It is a struggle over whether communities remain dependent on colonial systems or gain greater material and political autonomy.

Anti-Colonial Reconstruction and Autonomous Infrastructure in Emergent Disaster Response

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An explicit current within emergent disaster response treats rebuilding as anti-colonial struggle. In this current, water systems, solar systems, and community spaces are built as forms of survival and as steps toward reducing dependency on colonial infrastructures and externally imposed recovery [@resistancecaribbean2017; @onsiegessolar2024].

Reconstruction against dependency

The Puerto Rico and Caribbean rebuild campaign states the issue clearly: modular water and energy systems are meant to provide immediate relief and long-term independence and autonomy for marginalized communities [@resistancecaribbean2017]. This moves reconstruction beyond repair. It turns rebuilding into a contest over dependency itself.

Anti-Colonial Reconstruction and Autonomous Infrastructure in Emergent Disaster Response

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000