Infrastructural Reparations: Reimagining Reparative Justice in Haiti and Puerto Rico

Mimi Sheller

doi:10.20336/rbs.974

Autores/as

Mimi Sheller WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20336/rbs.974

Palabras clave:

ciudadanía de infraestructura, colonialidad, racialización, Caribe, blockchain

Resumen

Las infraestructuras tienen una capacidad intrínsecamente desigual para conectar y proporcionar a algunas personas determinados bienes y flujos de información, mientras que privan de derechos y deshumanizan a otras a través de los propios procesos de (des)conexión de elementos de la condición urbana. Las injusticias infraestructurales moldean épocas, horizontes temporales y ciclos vitales. Existe una falta de sincronía entre los horizontes temporales de durabilidad, materialidad, ingeniería y financiarización de las infraestructuras y los de las necesidades inmediatas de las personas y comunidades vivas, pero también es necesario un horizonte temporal más amplio que reconozca la demanda de reparaciones históricas, más allá de las necesidades inmediatas. La justicia reparadora infraestructural exige la eliminación de la violencia de las determinaciones infraestructurales que han sostenido durante mucho tiempo la supremacía blanca, deshumanizando a las personas negras e indígenas, así como a otras personas de color. Quienes no tienen acceso al derecho a reclamar que el Estado les proporcione lo básico para vivir deben ir más allá de la restauración o la reparación, buscando en su lugar reparaciones infraestructurales y justicia restaurativa como condiciones materiales para vivir. Este ensayo reflexiona sobre algunas de las tácticas de reparación flexibles, provisionales e infraestructurales que han surgido en Haití y Puerto Rico, donde los sistemas de infraestructuras públicas han fracasado estrepitosamente. En Haití, las tácticas de apropiación han involucrado a comunidades (y pandillas) que se vinculan a sistemas fracturados donde hay poca provisión estatal. En Puerto Rico, el desastre ha llevado a las organizaciones de base a pedir una recuperación justa, pero también a los empresarios de blockchain a aprovechar oportunidades en el extranjero para escapar del Estado. Ambos casos demuestran la precariedad, el poder, las oportunidades y los riesgos ocultos en los sistemas descentralizados frente a sistemas de infraestructura fragmentados.

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Biografía del autor/a

Mimi Sheller, WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

Dr. Mimi Sheller EDUCATION AB History and Literature Harvard University MA Sociology and Historical Studies New School for Social Research PhD Sociology and Historical Studies New School for Social Research

Dr. Mimi Sheller is the Dean of The Global School and is an internationally recognized scholar and higher education leader, with fifteen years of executive leadership across academic units, research centers, and professional organizations.

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