My research uses mixed methods (qualitative/quantitative) to explore the processes through which hurricane survivors gained, lost, or were denied access to emergency care in the aftermath of the Atlantic hurricane season in the Louisiana (U.S.), Puerto Rico and Haiti, with a focus on Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Hurricane Maria (2017). In particular, I am focusing on the treatment of chronic mental illnesses such as depression, ADHD, bipolar disorders or ASD.

My comparative analysis seeks to understand:

1. The determinants of access to healthcare through GIS, statistical, and discursive analysis conducted on ethnographic and policy accounts of the disaster;
2. Conceptualizations of emergency and mental health care as described by responders and policy-makers through discursive and textual analysis of policy documents;
3. Experiences of loss and healing as described by hurricane survivors, through discursive and textual analysis of oral histories and literature (poetry, fiction) produced in the hurricanes’ aftermath.

Methodologically, I have developed a mixed approach which uses geospatial and statistical data to complement qualitative understandings of the disaster, and 20th century American literature (in English, French and Spanish) to replace these experiences into collective imagination and ontologies.

From a theoretical perspective, my research thus explores the complex relationships between one’s sense of place and belonging, conceptualizations of mental healthcare, the question of differentiated responsibilities for climate change impacts, and conceptualizations of the state, citizenship and recognition.