In November 2020, category 4 Hurricane Iota devastated Old Providence and Santa Catalina (OPSC), small islands located in the Colombian Western Caribbean and home of the Raizal people, an African-descendent ethnic group bearing their own culture and language. Despite the chaotic governmental response, the local community has responded to the situation by adapting and reorganizing their ways of life. In this chapter, I present a reflection on how OPSC people have used culture in different ways to prepare, adapt, and resist during the disaster and post-disaster periods, in the context of increasing climate change, creating new ways to relate to their islands and community that play an important role in their future. To do this, I use some concepts drawn from cultural perspectives on disasters, climate change, and resilience. As I will try to show, the OPSC community has demonstrated a strong cultural resilience through its capacity to recover and its ability to learn from experience and adapt to new situations. This is not an easy process, as the current context exacerbates vulnerabilities. However, cultural resilience and community processes are a source of hope for islanders to continue to inhabit their land and seascapes with well-being and autonomy.

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Overcoming Iota: A Reflection on Old Providence and Santa Catalina Cultural Resilience In the Face of Disaster and Climate Change

  • Ana Isabel Márquez-Pérez

摘要

In November 2020, category 4 Hurricane Iota devastated Old Providence and Santa Catalina (OPSC), small islands located in the Colombian Western Caribbean and home of the Raizal people, an African-descendent ethnic group bearing their own culture and language. Despite the chaotic governmental response, the local community has responded to the situation by adapting and reorganizing their ways of life. In this chapter, I present a reflection on how OPSC people have used culture in different ways to prepare, adapt, and resist during the disaster and post-disaster periods, in the context of increasing climate change, creating new ways to relate to their islands and community that play an important role in their future. To do this, I use some concepts drawn from cultural perspectives on disasters, climate change, and resilience. As I will try to show, the OPSC community has demonstrated a strong cultural resilience through its capacity to recover and its ability to learn from experience and adapt to new situations. This is not an easy process, as the current context exacerbates vulnerabilities. However, cultural resilience and community processes are a source of hope for islanders to continue to inhabit their land and seascapes with well-being and autonomy.