COVID-19 and the Co-morbidities of Spatial Inequality and Colonial Legacy: Two Caribbean Cases – Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago

Keywords: private space, spatial injustice, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, coronavirus violations, coloniality
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 56

Abstract

From an historical perspective public space has been subjected to the control of the state. It has been used as a means to control those that are considered as needing to be kept in place and, therefore, maintain social order. However, public space is often used by those who are marginalized in the society having limited private space for a variety of functions. With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic the use of public space was severely restricted in an attempt to curb the pandemic. However, these restrictions on public space have revealed the ways in which spatial inequality is exacerbated in the Caribbean. This chapter addresses the ways in which emergency space management measures adopted by the state to address COVID-19 affect the use of space amongst the poor and marginalized. Using a thematic analysis of newspaper articles from two main daily periodicals in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, the chapter assesses the ways in which restrictions on public space creates spatial inequality. The paper shows that the COVID-19 policies that have been enacted in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have resulted in a clear disproportionate burden on the poor and marginalized in these countries. It shows that the use of space, particularly public space is multi-dimensional in how it is used and control by different stakeholders. The paper argues that this is not accidental, but rather part of a larger systemic process that is grounded in the history of coloniality.