Hurricane Katrina of August-September 2005, one of the most destructive natural disasters in U.S. history, dramatically illustrated the continuing racial and class inequalities of America. In this powerful reader, Seeking Higher Ground, prominent scholars and writers examine the racial impact of the disaster and the failure of governmental, corporate and private agencies to respond to the plight of the New Orleans black community. Contributing authors include Julianne Malveaux, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Ronald Walters, Chester Hartman, Gregory D. Squires, Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Alan Stein, and Gene Preuss. This reader is the second volume of the Souls Critical Black Studies Series, edited by Manning Marable, and produced by the institute for Research in African-American Studies of Columbia University.
Author(s): Manning Marable, Kristen Clarke
Edition: First Edition
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 336
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 8
Introduction: Seeking Higher Ground: Race, Public Policy and the Hurricane Katrina Crisis......Page 10
I. Politics and Place......Page 18
1 The New Orleans Mayoral Election: The Voting Rights Act and the Politics of Return and Rebuild......Page 20
2 The New Orleans That Race Built: Racism, Disaster, and Urban Spatial Relationships......Page 34
3 Race-ing the Post-Katrina Political Landscape: An Analysis of the 2006 New Orleans Election......Page 50
4 Property and Security, Political Chameleons, and Dysfunctional Regime: A New Orleans Story......Page 56
5 Hurricane Katrina as an Elaboration on an Ongoing Theme: Racialized Spaces in Louisiana......Page 82
6 An Interview with Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle......Page 92
II. Culture, Tradition, and Identity......Page 102
7 New Orleans’s African American Musical Traditions: The Spirit and Soul of a City......Page 104
8 Hero, Eulogist, Trickster, and Critic: Ritual and Crisis in Post-Katrina Mardi Gras......Page 124
9 ReImagining Ethnicity in the City of New Orleans: Katrina’s Geographical Allegory......Page 146
10 The Rebuilding of a Tourist Industry: Immigrant Labor Exploitation in the Post-Katrina Reconstruction of New Orleans......Page 158
III. Race and Repression......Page 168
11 “Do You Know What It Means…?”: Mapping Emotion in the Aftermath of Katrina......Page 170
12 Witness: The Racialized Gender Implications of Katrina......Page 190
13 The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Race and Class Divide in America......Page 208
14 Katrina’s Southern “Exposure”: The Kanye Race Debate and the Repercussions of Discussion......Page 220
15 Oral History, Folklore, and Katrina......Page 242
IV. Reimagining the Past and Reconstructing the Future......Page 258
16 What Happens When the Footprints Shrink: New Orleans and the End of Eminence......Page 260
17 “The City I Used to… Visit”: Tourist New Orleans and the Racialized Response to Hurricane Katrina......Page 272
18 The Social Construction of Disaster: New Orleans as the Paradigmatic American City......Page 288
19 Are They Katrina’s Kids or Ours? The Experience of Displaced New Orleans Students in Their New Schools and Communities......Page 312
20 Envisioning “Complete Recovery” as an Alternative to “Unmitigated Disaster”......Page 320
About the Authors......Page 329
F......Page 335
N......Page 336
Z......Page 337
