How Ethnography Reveals the Human Story of Unusual Geological Encounters: Lessons from Puerto Rico

FAIN: RFW-292000-23

American Geophysical Union (Washington, DC 20009-1231)
Aixa Aleman-Diaz (Project Director: October 2022 to present)

How do we make sense of who we are and what our purpose is as we confront the challenges of the Anthropocene? This question is central not just to the environmental humanities, but also to the people living them on the ground. This project aims to learn how residents of the Puerto Rican archipelago’s southwest experience, understand, and reframe their sense of meaning in response to unusual geologic encounters with the Earth that disrupt familiar spatio-temporal rhythms and scales. We apply anthropologically-grounded and experimental ethnography to identify and elevate humanistic dimensions of this region, a site of overlooked geological, cultural, and historical regional and hemispheric significance. The experiences and stories of 15 interlocutors who explore, study, and conserve coastal karst and how they support their local communities is central to this work. In collaboration with two grassroots organizations, we will develop bilingual geoheritage routes and online StoryMaps.