All of us are probably familiar with the folk tale of the three pigs; how each pig built a house in a different way, the lazy one out of straw, the not so lazy one out of wood, and the industrious one out of brick. And then along came the big, bad wolf that blew […]
As analyses and “spin” of the Katrina crisis grow, we confront the sort of public issue to which a social science response is urgently needed. Accordingly, the SSRC has organized this forum addressing the implications of the tragedy that extend beyond “natural disaster,” “engineering failures,” “cronyism” or other categories of interpretation that do not directly examine the underlying issues—political, social and economic—laid bare by the events surrounding Katrina. Essays on this site explore a number of subjects related to:
- Structures of vulnerability, including the race, class, gender, and age of those suffering most
- Political projects that have distorted the pursuit of “homeland security”
- Bias that has sent federal resources disproportionately to rural areas and suburbs rather than cities
- Media coverage of the disaster
- Response from the American public
- Philanthropic and charitable responses
- The physical infrastructure on which cities depend (and its vulnerabilities)
- The implications of the Iraq War
- Problems of oil dependency and related infrastructures
- Environmental policy and global warming, wetlands management, etc.
- Costs of “privatization” and cuts in government capacity
- Leadership at every level
- Law enforcement and public order
- Predicting “emergencies” and responding to predictions
- The economic implications of catastrophic events
- Comparisons: to the recent Asian tsunami, to 9/11 in New York, to earlier hurricane disasters in the U.S., etc.
Symbolic and Practical Interpretations of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster in New Orleans
by David AlexanderIntroduction In the 1960s some valuable sociological research was carried out on the plight of black people in US disasters (Anderson 1970a) and also on the role of the military in such events (Anderson 1969, 1970b). Although these topics have not been totally neglected since then, they have tended to lapse in social scientists’ agendas […]
Hurricanes, Poverty, and Vulnerability: An Historical Perspective
by Matthew MulcahyThe horrific images that continue to emerge from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have brought issues of race and poverty in America to the forefront of public consciousness. Television and newspaper reports repeatedly highlight the extent to which those with resources largely managed to escape the terror of […]