The Caribbean has been identified by the UN Secretary-General as "ground zero for the global climate emergency." While scientists and politicians emphasize the urgency of the situation, this research project takes a longer and broader view. Focussing on film and the insular Hispanic Caribbean, it investigates the ongoing and long-term impacts of colonialism - coloniality -, and the complex, broader network of relationships between and among humans and non-human nature - ecology.

Why film? Film can be understood as both a medium and a practice - not only representing lived experiences and knowledges of colonial ecologies, but also imagining and working towards alternative ways of being. This project analyses and compares documentary and fiction films to understand the creative choices and techniques that filmmakers use to expose the different ways that coloniality and ecology intersect. It also examines practices such as community filmmaking that respond to acute and ongoing or 'slow' environmental and social issues, considering how both the processes and products of these practices might enact positive change. 

Why the insular Hispanic Caribbean? Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico share common geographical challenges and environmental vulnerabilities, as well as key historical experiences of Spanish settler colonialism and US intervention. However, they are also very different, not least in their contemporary economic and political situations. This project takes their unique combination of similarities and differences as an opportunity to nuance our understanding of how coloniality manifests in and shapes contemporary ecologies.