Citation

Pinder S. Twenty-First Century Society 2009; 4(3): 241-256.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17450140902988883

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In analysing Hurricane Katrina, I re-think race, class, and power in New Orleans, Louisiana. My study stands as a response to scholars who have misread the impact that Katrina had on African-American New Orleanians and thus concluded that their fate was not linked to their race but rather to their class. In this study, my aim is to demonstrate precisely that, on the contrary, not only did race play a part, but it is also intrinsically linked to class. As a result, all efforts to discuss the events in terms of class as a category separate from race are ineffective. My analysis starts from the premise that New Orleans is a segregated community. It focuses on its prison system in order to show what Katrina ostensibly reveals, namely that the issues of race and class are not mutually exclusive but have race- and class-specific implications that interlock. Furthermore, I look at the ways the media reinforce the amalgamation of race and class by portraying mainstream stereotypes and reiterating fixed monolithic notions about African-Americans. I conclude that the ghettoisation of black communities is a yardstick by which all blacks in the United States are measured and hence reduced to ?otherness?. Ultimately, the study shows how social hierarchy is constructed based on the ideology of white supremacy.
In analysing Hurricane Katrina, I re-think race, class, and power in New Orleans, Louisiana. My study stands as a response to scholars who have misread the impact that Katrina had on African-American New Orleanians and thus concluded that their fate was not linked to their race but rather to their class. In this study, my aim is to demonstrate precisely that, on the contrary, not only did race play a part, but it is also intrinsically linked to class. As a result, all efforts to discuss the events in terms of class as a category separate from race are ineffective. My analysis starts from the premise that New Orleans is a segregated community. It focuses on its prison system in order to show what Katrina ostensibly reveals, namely that the issues of race and class are not mutually exclusive but have race- and class-specific implications that interlock. Furthermore, I look at the ways the media reinforce the amalgamation of race and class by portraying mainstream stereotypes and reiterating fixed monolithic notions about African-Americans. I conclude that the ghettoisation of black communities is a yardstick by which all blacks in the United States are measured and hence reduced to ?otherness?. Ultimately, the study shows how social hierarchy is constructed based on the ideology of white supremacy.