David M. Burley
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604734881
- eISBN:
- 9781621034971
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604734881.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
What is it like to lose your front porch to the ocean? To watch saltwater destroy your favorite fishing holes? To see playgrounds and churches subside and succumb to brackish and rising water? The ...
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What is it like to lose your front porch to the ocean? To watch saltwater destroy your favorite fishing holes? To see playgrounds and churches subside and succumb to brackish and rising water? The residents of coastal Louisiana know. For them hurricanes are but exclamation points in an incessant loss of coastal land now estimated to occur at a rate of at least twenty-four square miles per year. In this book, coastal Louisianans communicate the significance of place and environment. During interviews taken just before the 2005 hurricanes, they send out a plea to alleviate the damage. They speak with an urgency that exemplifies a fear of losing not just property and familiar surroundings, but their identity as well. People along Louisiana's southeastern coast hold a deep attachment to place, and this shows in the urgency of the narratives collected here. The meanings that residents attribute to coastal land loss reflect a tenuous and uprooted sense of self. The process of coastal land loss and all of its social components, from the familial to the political, impacts these residents' concepts of history and the future. The book includes updates for many of the subjects' narratives to reveal what has happened in the wake of the back-to-back disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.Less
What is it like to lose your front porch to the ocean? To watch saltwater destroy your favorite fishing holes? To see playgrounds and churches subside and succumb to brackish and rising water? The residents of coastal Louisiana know. For them hurricanes are but exclamation points in an incessant loss of coastal land now estimated to occur at a rate of at least twenty-four square miles per year. In this book, coastal Louisianans communicate the significance of place and environment. During interviews taken just before the 2005 hurricanes, they send out a plea to alleviate the damage. They speak with an urgency that exemplifies a fear of losing not just property and familiar surroundings, but their identity as well. People along Louisiana's southeastern coast hold a deep attachment to place, and this shows in the urgency of the narratives collected here. The meanings that residents attribute to coastal land loss reflect a tenuous and uprooted sense of self. The process of coastal land loss and all of its social components, from the familial to the political, impacts these residents' concepts of history and the future. The book includes updates for many of the subjects' narratives to reveal what has happened in the wake of the back-to-back disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Keagan Lejeune
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604734904
- eISBN:
- 9781621032540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604734904.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter talks about the changes in what became the “new normal” in New Orleans after Hurricane Rita, such as the communication of communal concern, feelings of solidarity and togetherness, and ...
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This chapter talks about the changes in what became the “new normal” in New Orleans after Hurricane Rita, such as the communication of communal concern, feelings of solidarity and togetherness, and the changes in behavior and traditions that became public announcements of the peculiarity of their shared hurricane experience. Residents believed that their way of life could be maintained if they used ingenuity and perseverance to remake the old to fit the new. In other words, residents employed and adapted traditions as a way to communicate their statement about culture’s ability to weather the storm. This chapter thus analyzes how visual presentations of these modified traditions existed as powerful statements of a community spirit that was directed at both community members and visitors to the area.Less
This chapter talks about the changes in what became the “new normal” in New Orleans after Hurricane Rita, such as the communication of communal concern, feelings of solidarity and togetherness, and the changes in behavior and traditions that became public announcements of the peculiarity of their shared hurricane experience. Residents believed that their way of life could be maintained if they used ingenuity and perseverance to remake the old to fit the new. In other words, residents employed and adapted traditions as a way to communicate their statement about culture’s ability to weather the storm. This chapter thus analyzes how visual presentations of these modified traditions existed as powerful statements of a community spirit that was directed at both community members and visitors to the area.
Barry Jean Ancelet, Marcia Gaudet, and Carl Lindahl (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037962
- eISBN:
- 9781621039518
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037962.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This book chronicles the brave and creative acts through which Gulf Coast people rescued their neighbors during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Ordinary citizens joined in with ...
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This book chronicles the brave and creative acts through which Gulf Coast people rescued their neighbors during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Ordinary citizens joined in with whatever resources they had. Unlike many of the official responders, vernacular rescuers found ways around paralysis produced by a breakdown in communications and infrastructure, and were able to dispel unfounded fears produced by erroneous or questionable reporting. The essays, personal narratives, media reports, and field studies presented here all have to do with effective and often ingenious answers that emerged from the people themselves. Their solutions are remarkably different from the hamstrung government response, and their perspectives are a tonic to sensationalized media coverage. The first part of the collection deals with Gulf Coast rescuers from outside stricken communities: those who, safe in their own homes and neighborhoods, marshaled their resources to help their fellow citizens. It includes some analysis and scholarly approaches, but also includes direct responses and first-hand field reports. The second part features the words of hurricane survivors displaced from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities to Houston, Texas. In many cases, the “victims” themselves were the first responders, rescuing family, friends, and strangers. All of the stories reveal a shared history of close-knit community bonds and survival skills sharpened by hard times. The book is about what went right in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita—in spite of all that went so wrong.Less
This book chronicles the brave and creative acts through which Gulf Coast people rescued their neighbors during the chaotic aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Ordinary citizens joined in with whatever resources they had. Unlike many of the official responders, vernacular rescuers found ways around paralysis produced by a breakdown in communications and infrastructure, and were able to dispel unfounded fears produced by erroneous or questionable reporting. The essays, personal narratives, media reports, and field studies presented here all have to do with effective and often ingenious answers that emerged from the people themselves. Their solutions are remarkably different from the hamstrung government response, and their perspectives are a tonic to sensationalized media coverage. The first part of the collection deals with Gulf Coast rescuers from outside stricken communities: those who, safe in their own homes and neighborhoods, marshaled their resources to help their fellow citizens. It includes some analysis and scholarly approaches, but also includes direct responses and first-hand field reports. The second part features the words of hurricane survivors displaced from New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities to Houston, Texas. In many cases, the “victims” themselves were the first responders, rescuing family, friends, and strangers. All of the stories reveal a shared history of close-knit community bonds and survival skills sharpened by hard times. The book is about what went right in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita—in spite of all that went so wrong.
Barry Jean Ancelet
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037962
- eISBN:
- 9781621039518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037962.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter presents reflections on how folklorists can help people and institutions understand the cultural and social implications of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Folklorists must remind everyone ...
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This chapter presents reflections on how folklorists can help people and institutions understand the cultural and social implications of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Folklorists must remind everyone that New Orleans was not alone in the Katrina tragedy. They must also listen to the stories, record them, and try to derive from a collection of them the story of these events in ways that may not otherwise be considered. There are many stories that need to be told and heard so that the world will know what really happened in New Orleans and in south Louisiana.Less
This chapter presents reflections on how folklorists can help people and institutions understand the cultural and social implications of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Folklorists must remind everyone that New Orleans was not alone in the Katrina tragedy. They must also listen to the stories, record them, and try to derive from a collection of them the story of these events in ways that may not otherwise be considered. There are many stories that need to be told and heard so that the world will know what really happened in New Orleans and in south Louisiana.
Karl F. Seidman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199945511
- eISBN:
- 9780199333189
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945511.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter provides an overview of Hurricane Katrina, the flooding of New Orleans and their impact on the scope of rebuilding that New Orleans faced. First, it summarizes the the evolution of ...
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This chapter provides an overview of Hurricane Katrina, the flooding of New Orleans and their impact on the scope of rebuilding that New Orleans faced. First, it summarizes the the evolution of Hurricane Katrina, its arrival on the Louisiana coast and the sequence of events and failures that resulted in the city’s flooding. A second section covers key aspects of the disorganized and slow government responses that followed the flooding and resulting human tragedy. In the third section, the scale of the destruction to New Orleans is detailed to show the enormous rebuilding challenge and the resulting uncertainty about the city’s future. The chapter concludes with a brief synopsis of existing research on New Orleans’ post-Katrina recovery and the book’s contribution to this research through deepening understanding of the grassroots rebuilding process at the neighborhood scale.Less
This chapter provides an overview of Hurricane Katrina, the flooding of New Orleans and their impact on the scope of rebuilding that New Orleans faced. First, it summarizes the the evolution of Hurricane Katrina, its arrival on the Louisiana coast and the sequence of events and failures that resulted in the city’s flooding. A second section covers key aspects of the disorganized and slow government responses that followed the flooding and resulting human tragedy. In the third section, the scale of the destruction to New Orleans is detailed to show the enormous rebuilding challenge and the resulting uncertainty about the city’s future. The chapter concludes with a brief synopsis of existing research on New Orleans’ post-Katrina recovery and the book’s contribution to this research through deepening understanding of the grassroots rebuilding process at the neighborhood scale.
M. B. Hackler (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604734904
- eISBN:
- 9781621032540
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604734904.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Rebuilding in Louisiana and Mississippi after hurricanes Katrina and Rita presented some very thorny issues. Certain cultural projects benefited from immediate attention and funding while others, ...
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Rebuilding in Louisiana and Mississippi after hurricanes Katrina and Rita presented some very thorny issues. Certain cultural projects benefited from immediate attention and funding while others, with equal cases for assistance but with less attractiveness to future tourist dollars, languished. New Orleans and its surroundings contain a diverse mixture of Native Americans, African Americans, Creoles, Cajuns, Isleños with roots in the Canary Islands, and the descendants of Italian, Irish, English, Croatian, and German immigrants, among others. After 2005, much is now different for the people of the Gulf Coast, and much more stands to change as governments, national and international nonprofit organizations, churches, and community groups determine how and even where life will continue. This collection elucidates how this process occurs and seeks to understand the cultures that may be saved through assistance or which may be allowed to fade away through neglect. It examines the ways in which a wide variety of stakeholders — community activists, elected officials, artists, and policy administrators — describe, quantify, and understand the unique assets of the region. Contributors question the process of cultural planning by analyzing the language employed in decision making. They attempt to navigate between rhetoric and the actual experience of ordinary citizens, examining the long-term implications for those who call the Gulf Coast home.Less
Rebuilding in Louisiana and Mississippi after hurricanes Katrina and Rita presented some very thorny issues. Certain cultural projects benefited from immediate attention and funding while others, with equal cases for assistance but with less attractiveness to future tourist dollars, languished. New Orleans and its surroundings contain a diverse mixture of Native Americans, African Americans, Creoles, Cajuns, Isleños with roots in the Canary Islands, and the descendants of Italian, Irish, English, Croatian, and German immigrants, among others. After 2005, much is now different for the people of the Gulf Coast, and much more stands to change as governments, national and international nonprofit organizations, churches, and community groups determine how and even where life will continue. This collection elucidates how this process occurs and seeks to understand the cultures that may be saved through assistance or which may be allowed to fade away through neglect. It examines the ways in which a wide variety of stakeholders — community activists, elected officials, artists, and policy administrators — describe, quantify, and understand the unique assets of the region. Contributors question the process of cultural planning by analyzing the language employed in decision making. They attempt to navigate between rhetoric and the actual experience of ordinary citizens, examining the long-term implications for those who call the Gulf Coast home.
Peggy Frankland
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037726
- eISBN:
- 9781621039402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037726.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter presents some final words from Wilma Subra. Wilma discusses three big disasters that have tested Louisiana since 2000—Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and the BP spill—each of which ...
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This chapter presents some final words from Wilma Subra. Wilma discusses three big disasters that have tested Louisiana since 2000—Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and the BP spill—each of which brought her into contact with both national and local groups. She believes that the challenge for the future is to know how the local and the national can now work together.Less
This chapter presents some final words from Wilma Subra. Wilma discusses three big disasters that have tested Louisiana since 2000—Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and the BP spill—each of which brought her into contact with both national and local groups. She believes that the challenge for the future is to know how the local and the national can now work together.
Mike Davis and Anthony Fontenot
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037962
- eISBN:
- 9781621039518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037962.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter describes how the residents of Ville Platte—a poor Cajun and black Creole community in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana—opened their doors to over 5,000 displaced people they call “company” ...
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This chapter describes how the residents of Ville Platte—a poor Cajun and black Creole community in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana—opened their doors to over 5,000 displaced people they call “company” (the words “refugee” and “evacuee” are considered too impersonal, even impolite). Ville Platte’s homemade rescue and relief effort stands in striking contrast to the incompetence of higher levels of government as well as to the hostility of other, wealthier towns, including some white suburbs of New Orleans, toward influxes of evacuees, especially poor people of color.Less
This chapter describes how the residents of Ville Platte—a poor Cajun and black Creole community in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana—opened their doors to over 5,000 displaced people they call “company” (the words “refugee” and “evacuee” are considered too impersonal, even impolite). Ville Platte’s homemade rescue and relief effort stands in striking contrast to the incompetence of higher levels of government as well as to the hostility of other, wealthier towns, including some white suburbs of New Orleans, toward influxes of evacuees, especially poor people of color.
Carl Lindahl
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037962
- eISBN:
- 9781621039518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037962.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
The most important and compelling Katrina stories are those shared among survivors. Survivor interviewers train themselves to ask briefly and listen deeply in order to give the storyteller ...
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The most important and compelling Katrina stories are those shared among survivors. Survivor interviewers train themselves to ask briefly and listen deeply in order to give the storyteller sovereignty over the story, and to present the story before the public in a way that reflects the teller faithfully. The listener also forms an active bond with the teller. To demonstrate the strength of that bond and to let the untold story of the interviewer surface, this chapter presents two duets: in each a survivor-interviewer introduces herself, talks about her experiences with the Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston project, and then introduces one of the interviews that she has conducted.Less
The most important and compelling Katrina stories are those shared among survivors. Survivor interviewers train themselves to ask briefly and listen deeply in order to give the storyteller sovereignty over the story, and to present the story before the public in a way that reflects the teller faithfully. The listener also forms an active bond with the teller. To demonstrate the strength of that bond and to let the untold story of the interviewer surface, this chapter presents two duets: in each a survivor-interviewer introduces herself, talks about her experiences with the Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston project, and then introduces one of the interviews that she has conducted.
Glen Miguez and Barry Jean Ancelet
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617037962
- eISBN:
- 9781621039518
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617037962.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Environmental History
This chapter presents an interview with Glen Miguez, who helped rescue some people who were stranded in their flooded homes due to Hurricane Rita. Glen spent the entire day picking people up and ...
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This chapter presents an interview with Glen Miguez, who helped rescue some people who were stranded in their flooded homes due to Hurricane Rita. Glen spent the entire day picking people up and taking them to safety. His is one of many similar stories of the vernacular rescuers who pitched in during the storm and its aftermath, saving people, pets, cattle, and horses.Less
This chapter presents an interview with Glen Miguez, who helped rescue some people who were stranded in their flooded homes due to Hurricane Rita. Glen spent the entire day picking people up and taking them to safety. His is one of many similar stories of the vernacular rescuers who pitched in during the storm and its aftermath, saving people, pets, cattle, and horses.
