Who Dat Say (We) "Too Depraved to Be Saved"?: Re-membering Katrina/ Haiti (and Beyond): Critical Studyin'for Human Freedom

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce King
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Black Studies ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Disaster Narratives ◽  
Cultural Amnesia

In this essay, Joyce King attempts to interrupt the calculus of human (un)worthiness and to repair the collective cultural amnesia that are legacies of slavery and that make it easy—hegemonically and dysconsciously—for the public to accept myths and media reports, such as those about the depravity of survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the earthquake in Haiti. King uses examples of Black Studies scholarship within a critical studyin' framework to recover and re-member the historical roots of resistance and revolution and the African cultural heritage that New Orleans and Haiti have in common. Within this framework, teachers, students, and parents can combat ideologically biased knowledge, disparaging discourses of Blackness,and dehumanizing disaster narratives.

scholarly journals Social patterns of natural disasters: The case of hurricane Katrina

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-215
Author(s):  
Mirko Filipović ◽  
Sonja Žakula
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Black People ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
Political Economic

Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disasters actually replicate and amplify existing social inequalities and their effects. Such was also the case with hurricane Katrina. Black people, the poor, the elderly... remained in sunken New Orleans because their economic and social exclusion diminished their possibility to escape the disaster (the same way it diminished their opportunity to escape poverty). Had Katrina been a mere accident of geography and ecology, it would have been possible to peacefully await the resolution of its aftermath. However, because the inequalities which Katrina made apparent have deep socio-historical roots, it was illusory to expect that they would be repaired by the public policies on offer. Because of this, Katrina remains a powerful reminder to those advocating for a more just and democratic society.

Analyzing Mega-Disaster Hurricane Katrina

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjen Boin ◽  
Christer Brown ◽  
James A. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Local Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Scale Response ◽  
State And Local

The response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 has been widely described as a disaster in itself. Politicians, media, academics, survivors, and the public at large have slammed the federal, state, and local response to this mega disaster. According to the critics, the response was late, ineffective, politically charged, and even influenced by racist motives. But is this criticism true? Was the response really that poor? This article offers a framework for the analysis and assessment of a large-scale response to a mega disaster, which is then applied to the Katrina response (with an emphasis on New Orleans). The article identifies some failings (where the response could and should have been better) but also points to successes that somehow got lost in the politicized aftermath of this disaster. The article demonstrates the importance of a proper framework based on insights from crisis management studies.

scholarly journals Blight Abatement of Vacant Land and Crime in New Orleans

2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle C. Kondo ◽  
Christopher Morrison ◽  
Sara F. Jacoby ◽  
Liana Elliott ◽  
Albert Poche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Vacant Land ◽  
Vacant Lots ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
And Control

Objectives: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused damage in New Orleans, Louisiana, and much of the land in low-resource neighborhoods became vacant and blighted. In 2014, New Orleans launched a program, Fight the Blight, which remediated properties in 6 neighborhoods. Our objective was to examine changes in crime rates near lots that were remediated (ie, debris removed and vegetation mowed). Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design to test whether crime rates changed from preremediation (January 2013–October 2014) to postremediation (July 2016–March 2017) near 204 vacant lots that were remediated compared with 560 control vacant lots that were not remediated between October 2014 and July 2016. We also examined differences between remediated lots that received 1 treatment (n = 64) and those that received ≥2 treatments (n = 140). Results: We found no significant differences between remediated and control lots in levels of violent, property, and domestic crimes from preremediation to postremediation. However, the number of drug crimes per square mile decreased significantly near all remediated lots (5.7% lower; P < .001) compared with control lots, largely driven by the significant decrease (6.4% lower; P < .001) in drug crimes found near lots that received ≥2 treatments. Conclusions: Investing in programs that improve neighborhood environments affected by high rates of physical disorder and vacancy may be a way to decrease violence. However, routine remediation may be needed to increase the public health impact of blight abatement programs in warmer climates, where weeds and vegetation grow rapidly.

Who Governs? How Shifts in Political Power Shape Perceptions of Local Government Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1503-1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domingo Morel ◽  
Sally A. Nuamah
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Services ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

What factors influence citizens’ perceptions of local government services? To answer this question, we examine citizens’ perceptions of public education in post-Katrina New Orleans. Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans began to transform most of its traditional public schools into charters. Although studies show that test scores have improved since the mass adoption of charters post-Katrina, surveys show that most Black citizens in New Orleans do not perceive that the New Orleans schools have improved post-Katrina. A majority of White residents, however, perceive that the schools are better post-Katrina. Relying on a survey of New Orleans residents, we argue that local shifts in political power by race help explain the racial differences in perceptions of the public schools. The study’s findings suggest that perceptions of the quality of public goods are shaped by perceptions of “who governs?”

Residential Dynamics in the Wake of Katrina

2014 ◽  
pp. 294-316
Author(s):  
John Byron Strait ◽  
Gang Gong
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Tropical Storm ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Transformative Process ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
The One

The increased racial and ethnic diversity experienced by the United States in recent decades has vividly transformed this nation's urban landscapes. In New Orleans, Louisiana this transformative process was dramatically enhanced and accelerated by the disruptive impact of Hurricane Katrina, a tropical storm that devastated many of the area's residential neighborhoods. The displacement and turmoil brought on by this event, and the rebuilding efforts that followed, generated a residential geography that varied considerably from the one that existed prior to the storm. This chapter builds upon earlier work that investigates the impacts these processes had on the changing levels of residential segregation evident among racial and/or ethnic groups in New Orleans from 2000 to 2010. Empirical analysis entailed the measurement of two dimensions of segregation evident among Non-Hispanic whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Measures of residential exposure were decomposed in order to investigate the relative impacts of metropolitan-wide compositional change and intra-urban redistributive change on segregation among the four groups. Irrespective of media reports suggesting otherwise, New Orleans did exhibit very modest forms of residential integration during the decade. However, results also suggest that some groups within New Orleans continue to exhibit “ethnic (or racial) self-selectivity,” a form of residential behavior that concentrates these groups residentially. This chapter provides compelling evidence that residential landscapes across New Orleans continue to be impacted by complex forces operating at both the neighborhood and metropolitan scales.

NEW ORLEANS IS NOT THE EXCEPTION: Re-politicizing the Study of Racial Inequality

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Frymer ◽  
Dara Z. Strolovitch ◽  
Dorian T. Warren
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Color Line ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Normal Functioning ◽  
The Public

Although political science provides many useful tools for analyzing the effects of natural and social catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the scenes of devastation and inequality in New Orleans suggest an urgent need to adjust our lenses and reorient our research in ways that will help us to uncover and unpack the roots of this national travesty. Treated merely as exceptions to the “normal” functioning of society, dramatic events such as Katrina ought instead to serve as crucial reminders to scholars and the public that the quest for racial equality is only a work in progress. New Orleans, we argue, was not exceptional; it was the product of broader and very typical elements of American democracy—its ideology, attitudes, and institutions. At the dawn of the century after “the century of the color-line,” the hurricane and its aftermath highlight salient features of inequality in the United States that demand broader inquiry and that should be incorporated into the analytic frameworks through which American politics is commonly studied and understood. To this end, we suggest several ways in which the study of racial and other forms of inequality might inform the study of U.S. politics writ large, as well as offer a few ideas about ways in which the study of race might be re-politicized. To bring race back into the study of politics, we argue for greater attention to the ways that race intersects with other forms of inequality, greater attention to political institutions as they embody and reproduce these inequalities, and a return to the study of power, particularly its role in the maintenance of ascriptive hierarchies.

scholarly journals Društveni obrasci prirodnih katastrofa: Slučaj Katrina

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 195
Author(s):  
Mirko Filipović ◽  
Sonja Žakula
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Black People ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Political Economic

 Public perception and imagination tend to view natural disasters and catastrophes as phenomena that impact everyone equally. However, they do not occur in a historical, political, economic or social vacuum. Every phase and aspect of a disaster - its causes, vulnerability, preparedness, aftermath, response, reconstruction, the scope of the disaster and the price paid in the end are, to a lesser or greater extent, socially conditioned. Natural disasters actually replicate and amplify existing social inequalities and their effects. Such was also the case with hurricane Katrina. Black people, the poor, the elderly... remained in sunken New Orleans because their economic and social exclusion diminished their possibility to escape the disaster (the same way it diminished their opportunity to escape poverty). Had Katrina been a mere accident of geography and ecology, it would have been possible to peacefully await the resolution of its aftermath. However, because the inequalities which Katrina made apparent have deep socio-historical roots, it was illusory to expect that they would be repaired by the public policies on offer. Because of this, Katrina remains a powerful reminder to those advocating for a more just and democratic society. 

Rebirth

Jockomo ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Shane Lief ◽  
John McCusker
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Mardi Gras ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Future ◽  
Major Disruption ◽  
The City

This final chapter describes how Mardi Gras Indians became more prominent in the public eye during the twentieth century. While they were often associated with violent street clashes during the early decades, by the last quarter of the century, a deliberate move towards harmony and growing cooperation led to more peaceful encounters among Mardi Gras Indians. This development paralleled the city’s growing acceptance and ultimate embrace of the Mardi Gras Indian as a cultural icon of the city. Just a few years into the twentieth century, Hurricane Katrina caused a major disruption in the cultural life of New Orleans, impacting the lives of Mardi Gras Indians and throwing the future of their tradition into doubt. Featured in this chapter is another series of interviews in which Mardi Gras Indians describe their struggles to return to New Orleans and their role in leading the city back to recovery and renewal.

Consuming Katrina

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Parker Horigan
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Disaster Victims ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Innovative Solution

When survivors are seen as agents in their own stories, they will be seen as agents in their own recovery. A better grasp on the processes of narration and memory is critical for improved disaster response because stories that are widely shared about disaster determine how communities recover. This book shows how the public understands and remembers large-scale disasters like Hurricane Katrina, discussing unique contexts in which personal narratives about the storm are shared: interviews with survivors, Dave Eggers’ Zeitoun, Josh Neufeld’s A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water, and public commemoration during the storm’s 10th anniversary in New Orleans. In each case, survivors initially present themselves in specific ways, counteracting negative stereotypes that characterize their communities. However, when adapted for public presentation, their stories get reduced back to stereotypes. As a result, people affected by Katrina continue to be seen in limited terms, as either undeserving of or incapable of managing recovery. This project is rooted in the author’s own experiences living in New Orleans before and after Katrina. But this is also a case study illustrating an ongoing problem and an innovative solution: survivors’ stories should be shared in a way that includes their own engagement with the processes of narrative production, circulation, and reception. In other words, we should know—when we hear the dramatic tale of disaster victims—what they think about how their story is being told to us.

Lessons From Failure of the Flood Protection System for the Greater New Orleans Area During Hurricane Katrina

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bea
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Delivery System ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Defense System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Flood Defense ◽  
Basic Approaches ◽  
Flood Protection System

This paper summarizes the key lessons that have been learned from the failure of the flood defense system for the greater New Orleans area during hurricane Katrina. This was a manmade disaster whose roots were firmly embedded in failure of the Technology Delivery System that had been charged with providing adequate flood protection for the public. Two basic approaches for going forward are explored. Recommendations for improvements in engineering criteria and guidelines and in the Technology Delivery System charged with providing acceptable flood protection are advanced.

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