The Katrina Disaster Now was a series of public conversations among academics, activists, and artists marking the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2015. The phrase "the Katrina disaster now" recognizes that Katrina was a catastrophic event that took place on August 29, 2005, and is also an ongoing process with causes and consequences that reach across a century. These programs asked both, how do we understand Katrina now, a decade after the storm? And, how does Katrina continue to affect our communities, our city, our nation, our world, now?
The series, produced by Andy Horowitz and sponsored by the Tulane Environmental Studies Program, accompanied a class by the same title, which was sponsored by a Duren Professorship.
Malik Rahim in conversation with Joshua Guild
Wednesday, September 9, 5:30pm, Rogers Memorial Chapel
A conversation about the environment, race, class, history, and justice.
Rahim, a former Black Panther, co-founded the Common Ground Collective in 2005. Guild is Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Princeton University.
Watch a video of the event here.
Benh Zeitlin and Louis Michot in conversation with Nick Spitzer
Wednesday, October 7, 5:30pm, Stone Auditorium
A conversation about art, music, film, climate change, Louisiana, loss, and beauty.
Zeitlin was nominated for the Academy Award for best director for his film Beasts of the Southern Wild. Michot is the Grammy-nominated singer and fiddler in the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Spitzer, Professor of Anthropology at Tulane, is the host and producer of the national public radio program American Routes.
Watch a video of the event here.
Kai Erikson in conversation with Andy Horowitz
Monday, October 26, 5:30pm, Goldring/Woldenberg Hall II, room 1111
A conversation about sociology, history, disaster, trauma, community, and the Katrina disaster now.
Erikson is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Sociology and American Studies at Yale University.
Watch a video of the event here.
Theresa Dardar, Minh Nguyen, Tyron Edwards, and Rosina Philippe in conversation with Debbie Elliott
Tuesday, November 10, 5:30pm, Freeman Auditorium
A conversation about rising seas, sinking land, climate change, Louisiana, justice, and community.
Dardar is a member of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe. Nguyen is the founder and executive director of VAYLA New Orleans. Edwards is pastor of Zion Travelers Baptist Church in Phoenix, LA. Philippe is a member of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation. Elliott is a national correspondent for National Public Radio.
Co-sponsored with WWNO and the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic.
Watch a video of the event here.
The Katrina Disaster Now
Tuesday, November 17, 5:30pm, Freeman Auditorium
Dinner follows at the 1834 Club
A clarinetist, a levees activist, a former resident of the Saint Bernard housing development, a Tulane alum, a cultural arts leader, a construction worker, a Charity Hospital doctor, a librarian, a photographer, a pollution expert, a teacher, and a poet say what it means to them.
Co-sponsored with the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South.
Watch a video of the event here.