General Course Information

Hurricane Katrina has raised important questions about race, racism, socioeconomic class, and poverty in the United States. In addition, this catastrophe has raised complex questions about security, environmental impact and governmental funding priorities. You will explore these and other questions as they relate directly to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.  As part of the course, we will travel to New Orleans to participate in a hurricane relief work project over WSU's spring break.

This is an inquiry-based course. Inquiry is an approach to teaching and learning that centers on the process of exploring a particular topic wherein students are guided—in this case by a combination of readings, discussion, and first-person experience—to understand issues in complex ways. Inquiry leads to asking questions and making discoveries in the search for new understandings. 

In this class, we will emphasize asking questions, perhaps presented as “working hypotheses,” that will lead you to and through the process of gathering information and perspective to refine your working hypotheses about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.  You will have the opportunity to test out your hypotheses and perspectives with peers and faculty members.

In addition, you will learn to identify and collect appropriate evidence to support or refine your hypotheses and perspectives. Some information will be gathered from published sources. Other information will be generated as a result of directed inquiries such as interviews and field studies.

Enhanced oral and written communication abilities are an expected outcome of inquiry. Throughout the course, as well at the end of the course, you will describe your inquiry and the results associated with your intellectual journey in both written and oral formats.

Students enrolled in this course will

Required Texts

Come Hell or High Water – Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, Michael Eric Dyson – Basic Civitas, 2006, ISBN 0-465-01761-4

The Great Deluge, Douglas Brinkley – HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, ISBN-13 987-0-06-112423-5

References

Brookings Institute, Katrina Reading Room

Understanding Katrina: Perspectives from the Social Sciences

Center for Social Inclusion – “Race to Rebuild: The Color of Opportunity and the Future of New Orleans”

KATRINA: Unmasking Race, Poverty, and Politics in the 21st Century, Lawrence D. Bobo,
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, Volume 3, Issue 01, March 2006, pp 1-6 Published online by Cambridge University Press, 09 Aug 2006.

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, John M. Barry, Touchstone – Simon and Schuster Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-684-84002-2

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, 2006, Chin Music Press, Inc., ISBN 0-9741995-1-6

Assignments

  1. Learning logs (first 7 weeks): response papers to assigned homework each week that document what your reactions are to the week’s assignments and what questions are being raised for you by what you’re learning.
  2. New Orleans Journal: Record what you hear/see/smell/taste/feel and do each day you are in NO. In addition, you should address specific questions that will be assigned.
  3. Ground-zero media oral report – Be prepared to orally report on one media article that was disseminated in the first 10 days following Katrina and a related follow-up media article from a later time. Turn in a one-page list of bulleted points for class discussion/analysis of your articles.
  4. Race/class/gender media written report – Bring to class two media articles that demonstrate the ways in which Katrina has exposed race/class/gender divides in American society. Include a 2 to 3-page typed analysis of your articles.
  5. Great Race – New Orleans: Working in teams of 2 or 3, you will race to demonstrate (using photos as documentation) that you have found/experienced the following (total “race” time = 3 hours):
    • Eat/Taste something typically NO (i.e., crawfish, étoufee, gumbo, gator, Bananas Foster) and explain the significance of your choice
    • A place that represents the complicated racial divides found in NO
    • A place that represents the complicated class divides found in NO
    • A sign of the rich diversity of NO culture
    • NO landmarks (explain significance) from the 1700’s, 1800’s and 1900’s
    • Other specific locations to be announced on Race day
  6. Photojournalism assignment – Working by yourself or in groups of 2, use photos to tell a story about NO in the aftermath of Katrina. You should include a minimum of 10 photos as well as a one-page narrative introduction to your story.
  7. First person interviews & analysis – working in groups of 2 or 3 you will interview 3 or more people you meet in NO to discover and record their “Katrina stories.” Together, you will create an interview plan (when and where will you do your interviews? who would you like to interview? what do you want to investigate via your interviews?). Each person must take the lead in initiating and conducting at least one interview. You should plan on transcribing your interview as it happens (while you probably won’t take down every word, taking notes and capturing important quotes, as well as taking photos or even a video recording, will help you later). After you have completed 3 or more interviews, your group must combine the interviews into a single document that conveys what you have learned about Katrina and its aftermath through your interview experiences. Your final document should include quotes and photos to go along with your analysis.
  8. Final individual paper
  9. Final group presentation
  10. Service Work in New Orleans – March 3-11, 2007.