From American Sodom to American Phoenix: The Destruction and Rebirth of New Orleans

Department of History, Tulane University
Conference organized by Romain Huret (University of Lyon-UMR MASCIPO 8168)
and Randy Sparks (History Department, Tulane University)

October 21-22 2010

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program

Thursday, October 21

• 10:00 a.m. Opening
• Welcome: Carole Haber, Dean, School of Liberal Arts (Tulane University)
• Opening Remarks: “Hurricane Katrina: French Views, American Debates,” Romain Huret and  Randy Sparks, Conference Organizers

• 10:15-11:45 a.m.: Session 1: The Crescent City as Symbol
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Felipe Smith (English Department, Tulane University)
• Romain Huret (University of Lyon/EHESS), “Explaining the Unexplainable: FEMA, the Bush Administration, and Hurricane Katrina”
• Rosanne Adderley (Tulane University), “Rebuilding an 'Historic' (Black) City: African-American History and the Public Profile of New Orleans Around Hurricane Katrina”

• 1:30-3:00 p.m., Session 2: Katrina as a Singular Moment
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Emily Clark (History Department, Tulane University)
• Vincent Michelot (Institut d’études politiques of Lyon), “Katrina: The Partisan Presidency Exposed?”
• James Boyden (Tulane Univeristy), “Hurricane Katrina as a Providential Catastrophe”

• 3:15 -4:45 p.m.: Session 3: Neoliberal New Orleans?
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Rachel Devlin (History Department, Tulane University)
• Andrew Diamond (University of Lille/CERI), “Naturalizing Disaster: Neoliberalism, Cultural Racism, and Depoliticization in the Era of Katrina”
• Thomas Adams (Tulane University), "Selling Security in Post-Katrina New Orleans: Space, Race, and the New Political Economy of the City"

• 7:00 p.m.: Plenary Session I: Rebecca Solnit
  Freeman Auditorium, Reception and Book-Signing Following
  Free and Open to the Public

Friday, October 22

• Session 4: 9:00-10:30 a.m.: Infrastructure and Geography Post-Disaster
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Nghana Lewis (English Department, Tulane University)
• Anne Lovell (University of Paris, IV), “Between 21st Century ‘Charity’ and Health Rationalization: Citizenship and the Reconfiguration of Health Care after Katrina”
• Richard Campenella (Tulane University), “Below Sea Level New Orleans: The History and Consequences of a Geographical Accident”

• 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Session 5: Culture, Community, and Rebuilding the City
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Matthew Sakakeeny (Music Department, Tulane University)
• Sara Le Menestrel (CNRS/EHESS), “'Memory Lives in New Orleans': The Process and Politics of Commemoration”
• Bruce Raeburn (Tulane University), “Faith, Hip Hop, and Charity: Brass Band Morphology in Post-Katrina New Orleans”

• 1:30-3:00 p.m.: Session 6: Katrina and the Social Imaginary of Disaster
  Chair/Discussion Initiator: Marc Perry (Anthropology Department, Tulane University)
• Jean Kempf (University of Lyon), “Images of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina, Poverty, and Race”
• Randy Sparks (Tulane University), “Preserving Cultural Heritage in a Post-Apocalyptic Society: New Orleans Mardi Gras after Katrina”

• 3:00-5:00 p.m.: Roundtable (Participants Only)

• 7:00 p.m.: Plenary Session II: “Celebrating the Odyssey Project”
  Freeman Auditorium
  Reception Following
  Free and Open to the Public