Displaced : life in the Katrina diaspora / edited by Lynn Weber and Lori Peek ; with Social Science Research Council Research Network on Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Weber, Lynn.

Peek, Lori A.

Social Science Research Council (U.S.). Research Network on Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Series:

Katrina bookshelf.

The Katrina bookshelf

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hurricane Katrina, 2005--Social aspects.

Hurricane Katrina, 2005.

Refugees--Louisiana--New Orleans--Social conditions.

Refugees.

Internally displaced persons--United States--Social conditions.

Internally displaced persons.

Disaster victims--United States--Social conditions.

Disaster victims.

Disaster relief--Social aspects--United States.

Disaster relief.

Physical Description:

xiii, 268 p. : maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Hurricane Katrina forced the largest and most abrupt displacement in U.S. history. About 1.5 million people evacuated from the Gulf Coast preceding Katrina’s landfall. New Orleans, a city of 500,000, was nearly emptied of life after the hurricane and flooding. Katrina survivors eventually scattered across all fifty states, and tens of thousands still remain displaced. Some are desperate to return to the Gulf Coast but cannot find the means. Others have chosen to make their homes elsewhere. Still others found a way to return home but were unable to stay due to the limited availability of social services, educational opportunities, health care options, and affordable housing. The contributors to Displaced have been following the lives of Katrina evacuees since 2005. In this illuminating book, they offer the first comprehensive analysis of the experiences of the displaced. Drawing on research in thirteen communities in seven states across the country, the contributors describe the struggles that evacuees have faced in securing life-sustaining resources and rebuilding their lives. They also recount the impact that the displaced have had on communities that initially welcomed them and then later experienced “Katrina fatigue” as the ongoing needs of evacuees strained local resources. Displaced reveals that Katrina took a particularly heavy toll on households headed by low-income African American women who lost the support provided by local networks of family and friends. It also shows the resilience and resourcefulness of Katrina evacuees who have built new networks and partnered with community organizations and religious institutions to create new lives in the diaspora.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

1. Documenting Displacement: An Introduction

2. The Research Network

Section I Receiving communities

Introduction

3. They Call It “Katrina Fatigue”:

4. The Basement of Extreme Poverty:

5. Living through Displacement:

6. When Demand Exceeds Supply:

7. Katrina Evacuee Reception in Rural East Texas:

8. Permanent Temporariness:

Section II Social networks

9. Help from Family, Friends, and Strangers during Hurricane Katrina:

10. “We need to get together with each other”:

11. The Women of Renaissance Village:

12. Twice Removed:

13. After the Flood: Faith in the Diaspora

Section III Charting A Path Forward

14. Community Organizing in the Katrina Diaspora:

Author bios

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-292-73578-2

OCLC:

801411582