Connected mobility in a disconnected world: Contested infrastructure in postdisaster contexts

Abstract

Drawing on research in postearthquake Haiti, with reference to other postdisaster situations, this article examines how uneven mobility and communication systems often reinforce unequal distributions of network capital and thereby reproduce uneven physical and informational space. The reflexive mobile methodology highlights how postdisaster humanitarian mobilizations, including interventions by diaspora members and researchers, could inadvertently intensify uneven access to blended physical and digital infrastructures. Focusing on the intersection of disaster logistics with systems for mobile communication, remote data collection, aerial vision technologies, and data visualizations assisted by satellites and aerial photography, the article draws on two specific local examples of contested water and energy infrastructure to explore how recipients of international aid contest unequal network capital and struggle against the reproduction of uneven spatialities and mobilities. In conclusion, it suggests that critical awareness of uneven network capital and more reflexive efforts to build connectivity across differentiated mobility systems, communication platforms, and scales might help lessen the negative retrenching of differential mobilities during postdisaster recovery.