LAUSR

Mount Pelée, the volcano on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, dramatically erupted in 1902, instantaneously killing thirty thousand people and obliterating the town of Saint-Pierre. With the deadliest eruption in the Western hemisphere, Pelée became the stuff of legends, making its way into postcards and literature the world over before falling silent for almost three decades. A generation later, the volcano erupted once more, this time spreading its effects over three years rather than a few fateful seconds. Historical memory played a pivotal role in the public, scientific, and governmental response to the eruption of 1929, as the rhythms of the environment ran up against human civilization. Greatly overshadowed in both the historiography and popular imagination by the eruption of 1902, the eruption of 1929 underscores the key role played by “disaster memory” in shaping the response to natural disasters. On the one hand, French officials drew on the lessons of the 1902 eruption in ways that helped to ensure the safety of Martinique’s colonial citizens. On the other hand, however, they replicated past approaches to disaster relief that further entrenched the economic disparities and sociopolitical inequities that characterized the colonial world.