Spacetimes catalyzing Puerto Rican Karst education, science, and conservation: Microanalyses in a building in transformation

In historic downtown Arecibo, Puerto Rico, a closed and abandoned building which used to be a school is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Since 2016, the structure is property of Citizens of Karst, a local non-profit organization leading the creation at the site of the Karst Institute of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. By the end of its transformation, it will house a natural history museum, cave and karst exhibits, spaces for research and art, and community emergency services. While some geographers have drawn from anthropologist Nancy Munn’s work in Australia and Melanesia, here I integrate insights from her rarely cited research on the transformations of late nineteenth century New York. This work provides an insightful framework to analyze persons in movement over time and across generations, within the built environment, and yet vitally connected to and oriented towards the broader landscape, its past and its future. Specifically, I identify critical spatiotemporalizing practices undergirding not only the building’s transformation, but also catalyzing Puerto Rican environmental education, science, and conservation efforts. The practices of walking with, listening to, and supporting volunteers’ work reveal a rich and complex palimpsest of values and histories which document how, when, and in what ways the Institute project unfolds. Its strength derives from reorienting our attention to this palimpsest at the threshold connecting complex and dynamic landforms such as Puerto Rico’s iconic karst, fresh groundwater, and sea. Finally, two phenomena further underscore the Institute’s significance beyond Arecibo: first, Puerto Rico’s rate of public-school closures and their impacts on Puerto Rican society, and the scalar dimensions of Latin American and Caribbean cave and karst education and science oriented to the broader public.