ABSTRACT
The authors conclude their argument by synthesizing the major ideas of the book, fine tuning the connections among elite profits, environmental extractavism, and Haitian vulnerability; neo-colonialist humanitarian practice, community participation, and mutual aid; and crisis, technology, and quick-fix obsolescence. They highlight the mechanisms of (re)production of disaster and recovery and emphasize that they need to be deconstructed in order to be re-imagined through new discourses, policies, and practices in Haiti. The authors consider what lessons are to be learned as well as how to manifest economic policies, disaster prevention, and recovery practices that are sustainable. Moreover, they propose a praxis for a people’s recovery, which emphasizes survivor and relationship centered humanitarian efforts that create space for critical reflection on self, systems, history, and power. This concluding chapter is a call for a popular or people’s disaster recovery as an antidote to the perverse operations of the disaster industrial complex (DIC) in Haiti and other similar settings. Throughout the chapter, the authors offer practical recommendations that hold potential for undoing racist scripts, dismantling the DIC, and fulfilling the promises of a “new” and “better” Haiti.
