La Revista de Historia de América. Silvio Zavala y la red de estudios americanistas, 1938–1948

Abstract

unable to engage in international travel or migrate out of their country. Chapter 4 is about digital power. Here she carefully notes that, in Haiti, post-earthquake, immediate recovery efforts were dependent on cellphone communication. She suggests a move toward democratizing informational access via patching or ways for people to appropriate existing digital infrastructure (OpenStreetMap, for example) to suit their needs. Chapter 5 is about bordering power. In this chapter, Sheller provides a detailed account of her own crossing of the Haiti– Dominican Republic border. The territoriality of each state is blurred, as the two lakes that separate the island into two are slowly eroding the “border”. This chapter once again reminds us of the “human-made” aspect of the state, territoriality and territory. Finally, Chapter 6 examines sexual power. This is a poignant reminder that tourist destinations are perpetuating forms of exploitation that trace back to slavery and that “violent access to gendered and racialized subaltern bodies continues” (p. 129). Her concluding chapters outline that alternatives to each of the forms of power she presented are possible, ways they could be appropriated from below, and how those alternatives will allow these islands to survive (and thrive) in the Anthropocene. Throughout her book, Sheller discusses these issues with finesse and shows great respect to the local population. She is deeply aware of her positionality in the disaster recovery in Haiti and her privileges, and as such she is also critical of how complicit she is in reproducing the inequalities she describes. This self-awareness shows great maturity and demonstrates how decolonial thinking is possible. Although she draws on other Caribbean experiences, notably that of Puerto Rico, this book would certainly have been even richer with more examples from more other Caribbean Islands. Nevertheless, this book makes an important contribution to decolonial studies and Caribbean studies. I believe this book will become an indispensable read for anyone who wants to work toward a just recovery and a more sustainable future.