Conferences
The Hurricane as Method: Archive, Theory, Argument.
Roundtable discussion, American Society for Environmental History, Eugene, OR, March 2022.
Troubling the Water: Environmental Activism in Louisiana.
Roundtable discussion, American Historical Association Annual meeting, panel chair, New Orleans, LA, January 2022.
Author Meets Readers – How to Sink New Orleans: A Roundtable Discussion of Katrina: A History, 1915–2015.
Roundtable discussion, Urban History Association, Detroit, 2020 (cancelled due to pandemic).
Crisis of Decision: A Roundtable Discussion on Disasters and American Power.
Roundtable discussion, Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 2021.
Southern Risk Society.
Roundtable discussion, Southern Historical Association, Memphis, November 2020.
Ethnography Now: New Perspectives on Interdisciplinarity.
Panel discussant, American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2018
Rethinking Resilience: New Orleans and the Paradox of Flood Control.
"The Fragile City" conference, Università Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy, June 2018
New Orleans is Sinking! A Round Table Discussion on Land Loss in Louisiana.
Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, panel chair, New Orleans, LA, April 2017
“What Is This New Orleans We Want To Save?” Defining Critical Infrastructure After Katrina.
Urban History Association Biennial Conference, Chicago, IL, October 2016
Oh the Humanities! Culture and Values in Coastal Restoration.
State of the Coast Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, June 2016
Methods and Technology for Bringing New Orleans Oral History to a Popular Audience: A Roundtable Discussion.
Louisiana Historical Association Annual Meeting, Baton Rouge, LA, March 2016
Flood Control, Oil Rights, and America's Sinking Gulf Coast.
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, "Disaster, Environment and Property:
Historical Approaches, 19th-20th Centuries" Conference, Paris, France, December 2015
Listening as Resistance or Resistant to Listening?: Ethnography, Oral History, Grounded Theory in American Studies.
Roundtable discussion, American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, October 2015
Home of Disaster: Katrina, BP, and the Gulf South, 5 and 10 Years Later: A Roundtable Discussion.
Louisiana Historical Association Annual Meeting, Lafayette, LA, March 2015
How to Sink New Orleans: Flood Control and Oil Development in South Louisiana, 1927-2005.
Urban History Association Biennial Conference, Philadelphia, PA, October 2014
The Complete Story of the Galveston Horror.
"Trauma and History" Conference, Institute for Historical Studies, University of Texas-Austin, March 2014
Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?: Hurricane Katrina’s History.
“Disasters Wet and Dry” Conference, Renmin University, Beijing, China, May 2013
HELP! Hurricane Betsy in New Orleans, 1965.
Southern Historical Association Annual Meeting, Mobile, AL, November 2012
The Real Louisiana: Louisiana on Reality TV.
American Folklore Society Annual Meeting, panel chair, New Orleans, LA, October 2012
The End of Empire, Louisiana.
Louisiana Folklore Society Annual Meeting, Lafayette, LA, March 2011
Spirituals to Swing: Authenticity in American Roots Music.
University of Louisiana-Lafayette, “Force of Desire in Text and Culture” Conference, Lafayette, LA, March 2009
Sharing the Story: Community As Curator.
American Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, April 2006
Sharing the Story: The New Haven Oral History Project.
American Association of State and Local Historical Societies Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, September 2005
Imagining New Orleans in the Long Civil Rights Movement.
Oral History Association Annual Meeting, Little Rock, AK, October 2006
I’m A Man: Muddy Waters and the Great Migration.
“Hillbilly Sources & Symbols” Conference, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, April 2003
Invited talks (selected)
New Orleans's History, America's Future: Katrina, Covid, and the Climate Crisis
KAIST Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, December 2021.
The State of the American City: Problems and Possibilities.
Plenary panelist, Urban History Association, October 2021.
Katrina: A History, 1915–2015
Conversation with Jarvis DeBerry for "Bright Lights Online," Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, July 2021.
New Orleans's History, America's Future: Katrina, Covid, and the Climate Crisis
Center for Ecological History, Renmin University of China. April 2021
Katrina: A History, 1915–2015
"Planet Now!" series, Center for Environmental Studies, Rice University, February 2021
Researching and Writing Histories of Disaster
Conversation with Charlotte Leib, History Department, Yale University, October 2020
Katrina: A History, 1915–2015
Conversation with Matthew Frye Jacobson for "Democracy in America" series, New Haven Free Public Library, September 2020
Make What Right?: The Katrina Disaster, 1915-2015.
School of Architecture and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 2018
Katrina's History.
Department of History, Princeton University, April 2018
Empathy, Change, and Hope: Glenda Gilmore's Southern History. (invited panelist)
"A Celebration of Glenda Gilmore & Her Legacy" conference, Yale University, April 2018
Climate, Infrastructure, and Emergency Powers. (invited workshop participant)
Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia University, April 2018
All Sciences Are Social.
"Human Coast Workshop," Louisiana State University, January 2018
Flooded: Disaster and Dynamics of Living With Water in Louisiana. (invited panelist)
School of Social Sciences Annual Symposium, Dillard University, November 2016
History, Social Responsibility, and the Katrina Disaster Now.
Keynote address, College and University Faculty Assembly,
National Council of Social Studies Annual Meeting, November 2015
Artificial Crevasse: Building and Bombing Levees in Louisiana, 1927-2005.
Department of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana State University, November 2014
Hurricane Katrina and the Secret to a Happy Ending.
Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University, June 2012
Disaster and Recovery on the Gulf Coast.
Association of Yale Alumni Assembly, Yale University, November 2011
The Katrina Context of the BP Oil Spill.
Department of American Studies, Yale University, October 2010
Imagining New Orleans Five Years After Katrina.
Center for the Study of Hazards and Disasters, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, September 2010
The History of Oral History.
Department of Folklore Studies, University of Louisiana-Lafayette, July 2010
Imagining New Orleans in the Long Civil Rights Movement.
Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale University, July 2009
Memory Matters: New Haven Monuments and Memorials.
New Haven Museum, April 2009
Oral History After Katrina.
Department of History, Princeton University, April 2007
Imagining New Orleans.
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, November 2006
Is Oral History Different?
Department of History, Harvard University, October 2006
Remembering the New Haven Holocaust Memorial.
Slifka Center for Jewish Life, Yale University, April 2006
Asking About the Past.
New Haven City Hall Lecture Series, January 2006
Using Oral History To Enhance Undergraduate Education.
Teagle Foundation Conference, Yale University Library, September 2005
Food For Thought: Family Run Restaurants in New Haven.
International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven, June 2005