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I argue that to understand the gender dynamics of New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and the storm's aftermath, one must interrogate the cultural conflation of the black female body and the city's legacy to explore what it means and how it situates real black women in social, cultural, and physical landscapes. Using a hybrid theoretical framework informed by Black feminist theory, ecocriticism, critical race feminism, and post-positivist realism, I explore the connections between New Orleans' cultural and historical discourses that gender the city as feminine, more specifically as a black woman or Jezebel, with narratives of real black females to illustrate the impact that dominant discourses have on people's lives. I ground this work in Black feminism, specifically Hortense Spillers's and Patricia Hill Collins's works that center the black female body to garner a fuller understanding of social systems, Kimberlé Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality, and Evelyn Hammonds's call for a reclamation of the body to interrogate the ideologies that inscribe black women. In addition, I argue that black women should reclaim New Orleans' metaphorical black body and interrogate this history to move forward in rebuilding the city. As an ecocritic and feminist, I understand the tension involved with reading a city as feminine and arguing for this reclamation, as this echoes colonial and imperialist discourses of conquering land and bodies, but I negotiate these tensions by specifically examining the discourse itself to expose the sexist and racist ideologies at work. / Master of Arts

La carence des recherches académiques portant sur la problématique de l'insécurité urbaine dans le contexte particulier d'une ville affectée par une catastrophe majeure, nous a mené à investir cette problématique à travers le cas de la Nouvelle-Orléans et de la catastrophe Katrina. L'analyse de données criminelles inédites, complétée par un travail de terrain approfondi, a permis de « reconstituer » les évolutions spatiales et temporelles de la criminalité en lien avec la catastrophe Katrina. A court terme, Katrina a conduit à de nombreux « transferts » d'insécurité à l'échelle de la ville et des sites d'évacuation qui ont subi des « effets reportés » de la catastrophe. Néanmoins, l'analyse des données tant quantitatives et qualitatives permet de fortement nuancer certains discours qui ont orienté les réponses des gestionnaires. L'insécurité, notamment dans sa dimension subjective, a ainsi constitué une sérieuse entrave à la gestion de la crise, notamment à l'évacuation des victimes prises au piège par les inondations. A plus long terme, le retour progressif des populations évacuées s'est accompagné d'une criminalité violente qui avait connu une forte réduction au cours des premiers mois post Katrina. L'analyse des données criminelles menée à différentes échelles spatiales, permet d'envisager la criminalité comme une « grille de lecture » des transformations urbaines post catastrophe. D'autre part, les mutations urbaines rapides après Katrina ont affecté les représentations du danger qui ne se sont pas toujours ajustées à la nouvelle « réalité criminelle » des différents quartiers de la ville. L'approche systémique de l'insécurité urbaine post catastrophe permet de mettre en évidence une aggravation du risque criminel après Katrina à l'échelle de la ville en raison d'un affaiblissement prolongé des territoires en marge de la reconstruction où les activités criminelles ont pu proliférer. Dans la mesure où les catastrophes telles que Katrina peuvent conduire à un renforcement de l'insécurité urbaine, notamment à l'échelle des territoires les plus vulnérables, une plus grande considération de cette problématique par les chercheurs semble dès lors nécessaire. L'anticipation des conséquences qu'une catastrophe majeure peut avoir sur la sécurité d'une ville permettrait d'intégrer la question de l'insécurité urbaine dans les plans de gestion de crise et de reconstruction post catastrophe et ainsi de faciliter le processus de résilience urbaine. / The lack of academic research on “urban insecurity” in the context of a city affected by a major disaster led us to investigate this issue through the case of New Orleans and the Katrina disaster. The analysis of crime data, complemented by an intensive field work, allowed us to “recreate” the spatial and temporal evolution of crime related to Katrina. In the short term, Katrina let to numerous crime displacements in New Orleans and in the cities affected by indirect impacts from the disaster. Nonetheless, the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data allows to seriously play down the discourses which oriented the official responses to the disaster. Crime, in particular fear of crime, has represented a serious obstacle to the crisis management, especially to the evacuation of the residents trapped by the floods. In the longer term, the return of the inhabitants came along with the return of violent crime after a lull of several months after hurricane Katrina. The analysis of crime data at different spatial scales allows us to consider crime as a frame to “read” post disaster changes in urban dynamics. Besides, brutal changes in those dynamics and in the urban landscape have affected the perceptions of danger which didn't always adjust to the new “criminal trends” of the city's different neighborhoods. The holistic approach of post disaster “urban insecurity” allows us to highlight an increase of crime risk at the city scale after Katrina because of a long lasting weakening of territories that struggle to recover and where criminal activities have proliferated. Since disasters like Katrina can lead to an increase in urban insecurity, in particular in the most vulnerable territories, a better consideration of this issue by researchers seems therefore necessary. The anticipation of the consequences that a major disaster can have on urban security would allow to integrate the issue of crime and its prevention into disaster management and recovery plans and therefore to facilitate the process of urban resilience.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-39).

In this thesis, I enquire into how the USA – our world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation –  and its federal government has dealt with two of its most severe natural disasters: the drought and dust storms that plagued the Great Plains during the 1930’s, i.e. the Dust Bowl, and Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in late August 2005.  I attempt to identify differences and similarities and analyze if and, in that case, how the hegemonic politico-economic paradigm affected the federal management of these crises. This comparison is made relevant by the fact that two differing paradigms were at play during these events. In the thirties, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his “New Deal”, a series of counter cyclical measures in line with the Keynesian school of economics, as a response to the overwhelming economic depression as well as the raging drought. In sharp contrast, Hurricane Katrina swept over a country ridden by decades of neoliberal governance. I show that political economy plays an important role in the success and/or failure of, in this case, the United States’ management of natural disasters. Finally, I argue for the return (or, rather, the creation) of an expanded and more socially and environmentally conscious public sector, which, in times of crisis, is able to represent all of its citizens – regardless of class or race.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Mama D's 2 Blocks tells the story of a neighborhood home in New Orleans that was transformed into a distribution center and used to assist residents impacted by Hurricane Katrina's devastation in 2005. Mama D stayed at her home throughout the storm and remained there until the floodwaters had subsided. After the water had drained, socially minded youth from all over the country were drawn to Mama D's home and stayed there while supporting local renewal efforts. The film documents their joining together, without electricity or running water, and assisting in the rebuilding process undertaken by Mama D and other neighborhood residents. This film captures a community in action, how it survived, and the first steps taken towards the rebuilding of New Orleans.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Communication, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-95).