(Un)studied vulnerability: introducing UndocuCrit to critical disaster studies

Purpose This paper argues that when citizenship status is excluded from disaster management and planning, assumptions are made about undocumented communities, leading to their continued marginalization. In response, we introduce undocumented critical theory (UndocuCrit) as a necessary intervention in critical disaster research. By applying its four tenets – fear, liminality, parental sacrifice and acompañamiento – we demonstrate how undocumented status fundamentally shapes disaster experiences. UndocuCrit reorients disaster frameworks to honor the lived realities of undocumented immigrants, and we argue that it challenges exclusionary norms in traditional disaster paradigms. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a theoretical intervention grounded in UndocuCrit, applied within the context of critical disaster studies. Drawing from interdisciplinary literature and the documented narratives of undocumented immigrants, this paper uses the four tenets of UnoducuCrit as an analytical framework. Through conceptual synthesis and critique, it examines how legal status produces unique forms of disaster vulnerability. Rather than relying on empirical data collection, this study offers a reorientation of disaster scholarship that centers on an underrepresented perspective and challenges the dominant assumptions embedded in disaster research. Findings Applying the UndocuCrit lens reveals how undocumented immigrants face systemic exclusion in disaster preparedness, relief and recovery due to assumptions embedded in citizenship-based planning. UndocuCrit clarifies how fear of deportation, legal liminality and reliance on informal networks shape disaster responses with undocumented communities. This paper demonstrates that, although some disaster and immigration literature intersect, most fail to center the epistemologies and experiences of undocumented individuals. By grounding our paper in an undocumented scholar-led lens, disaster scholars can reframe research ethics, develop inclusive methodologies and critically challenge the structures that render undocumented disaster experiences invisible. Originality/value This paper aims to bridge the gap between disaster and undocumented immigration scholarship, addressing the disaster field’s long-standing neglect of undocumented experiences. This paper challenges dominant disaster paradigms that universalize vulnerability without accounting for legal exclusion. Its value lies in a theoretical approach that redefines who is considered at risk and what equitable disaster preparedness and recovery could look like for undocumented immigrants.