We Are Not OK: The Bahamian Plantationocene, Hurricane Dorian, and the limits of academic genre

Nicolette Bethel; Kenneth Broad; Amelia Moore; Adelle Thomas; Sarah Wise

doi:10.15362/ijbs.v30i1.569

Authors

Nicolette Bethel University of The Bahamas https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1873-3539
Kenneth Broad University of Miami https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6471-5943
Amelia Moore University of Rhode Island https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7863-8207
Adelle Thomas Natural Resources Defense Council https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0407-2891
Sarah Wise National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15362/ijbs.v30i1.569

Keywords:

Autoethnography, Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian, 2019, Abaco, Grand Bahama, Disaster victims, Climatic changes -- Effects of human beings on

Abstract

In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall in The Bahamas, ending lives, decimating infrastructure, and dispersing survivors. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic halted mainstream economic activity for well over a year. Despite the appearance of structural recovery and rebounding tourism, the island nation and the scholars who covered these events are still not OK five years later. How do we narrate events like these? In this piece, using autoethnography, a group of Bahamian and international scholars reflect on their experiences after the impact of Hurricane Dorian.

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