2018 Conference

Individual Paper Presentation

This qualitative project is an interdisciplinary analysis of the lived experiences of Black Hurricane Matthew survivors in Eastern North Carolina, through the lenses of the Environmental Inequality Formation framework and Critical Environmental Justice. This project will illuminate the ways in which these survivors are still, and quite constantly, living in the effects of the storm. Hurricane Matthew and its legacy continues to live on. Critically analyzing the aftermath of these storms, especially on racially marginalized populations, allows us to end repetitious cycles of “recovery” narratives and expose ways in which we can really aid those in need. The Environmental Inequality Formation framework is characterized by analyses of social and economic processes, with interacting scales of causation and of social difference. Critical Environmental Justice scholarship centers on the experiences of marginalized groups; the analytic commitment in this field is to the lived/grounded experiences of the most vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Some of the factors considered are issues of scale, space, gender, and a more intense interrogation of the meanings of justice. Using these two lenses, I will illuminate the nuanced and devious structures that maintain the “recovery” narratives that ultimately don’t provide much aid at all. Methods: I will begin this ethnographic study through connections made with an organization in Eastern Carolina created by and for Hurricane Matthew survivors. Field notes and responses to semi-structured interviews will be analyzed using an iterative analytic method. I will conduct semi-structured interviewees with organizers of the group and community members, asking them about their experiences and also the experiences of their neighbors. General thematic categories and sub-categories will evolve from continued observation and re-examining field notes and interviews multiple times. This contextualization is key in effectively analyzing the overarching structures that play crucial roles in the daily activities of participants.