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Continuing Creolization in New Orleans Foodways

Among other points of distinction, New Orleans is often and enthusiastically celebrated as a great place to eat. Boosters of the city’s cuisine point to the same cultural hybridity and cosmopolitanism that enabled the flourishing of jazz music and distinctive architectural styles as explanation for the development of Creole cuisine. Tom Fitzmorris, a prominent restaurant critic and radio host in New Orleans since the 1970s and curator of the website nomenu.com, argues in his book Hungry Town: A Culinary History of New Orleans: “Throughout its history, New Orleans was always a net exporter of culinary innovation; we largely ignored what was going on in other cities around the country. With good reason. Outside New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, no other American city was in league with New Orleans in its culture of cookery. And not even those cities had so well-developed and old a native flavor as we did.”[1] The “native flavor” of which Fitzmorris boasts is a near-proprietary blend of European, African, and Native American preparations that highlight local ingredients, especially seafood and certain fresh produce. The most iconic and classic dishes of the New Orleans culinary canon–gumbo, jambalaya, oysters Rockefeller, red beans and rice, turtle soup, anything with shrimp or crawfish–illustrate the creolization of European, African, and Caribbean cuisines while emphasizing the importance of proximity to the Mississippi river, the Gulf of Mexico, and the bayous that characterize the landscape around New Orleans.

The terms “Creole” and “Cajun” refer to the foodways (and broader cultural characteristics) of urban and rural Southern Louisiana, respectively. Creole describes the population born to settlers in French colonial Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans, as well as native-born people of African descent, both enslaved and free people of color. Like the people, Creole food is a blend of the various cultures of New Orleans (including Spanish, French, African, Italian, German, Caribbean, and Native American, among others), and is typically considered more cosmopolitan and varied than Cajun cuisine. Cajun refers to descendents of the French Canadian settlers forcibly removed from the Acadian region by the British in the mid- 18th century. They settled in the swampy areas of southern Louisiana today known as Acadiana and encompassing four distinct regions: the levees and bayous (Lafourche and Teche), the prairies (Attakapas Native land), swamplands (Atchafalaya Basin), and coastal marshes (New Orleans area and Houma).[2] Cajun cooking continues to draw heavily, in many cases exclusively, from these local landscapes, and has further blended with Creole cuisine to characterize what many believe is “authentic” New Orleans cuisine.

Seafood photo by Cheryl Gerber courtesy New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau

The prominence of indigenous ingredients and dishes in the formulation of a distinctive cuisine is “central to ideas about what is specific about New Orleans” argues University of New Orleans anthropologist David Beriss.[3] Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Beriss explains, New Orleans had a “long-standing food culture, a cuisine, built from local products, that is regularly produced in homes and restaurants and frequently discussed around local tables and in the local media.” This food culture, and the celebratory rhetoric surrounding it, seem to indicate that the city’s creolized foodways are more broadly representative of the cultural and ethnic heterogeneity that have long characterized New Orleans. And while contemporary New Orleans foodways continue to claim distinctive terroir[4] (and merroir – the aquatic equivalent of terroir)–ingredients conveying the taste of their place of origin–the late geographer Clyde Woods reminds us that these foodways and the culture that produced them bear legacies often neglected from the dominant celebratory narratives.[5] At risk of vastly oversimplifying complex historical processes, I want to highlight the importance of colonialism and enslavement for the development of contemporary New Orleans foodways. (I also acknowledge that those processes contributed to the formulation of Southern U.S. foodways more broadly.)

Between 2,000 and 600 B.C., long before European colonization, the Poverty Point settlement in Northeast Louisiana and its surrounding villages had a highly developed pre-agricultural subsistence system based on local plants and game, especially aquatic. Maize-based farming seems to have come late to Louisiana compared the rest of the Mississippi Valley and the Eastern U.S. — only a few hundred years before the arrivals of Europeans. This may have been because of the abundance of wild sources of food, again aquatic as well as terrestrial. As indigenous agriculture declined under the pressure of European settlement, war and exploitation increased. French settlers enslaved women from defeated nations and forced them to both grow food and endure a lifetime of sexual exploitation.[6] As European settlement expanded throughout the region, Woods explains, “many of the new immigrants avoided agricultural labor in the fetid, humid, and dangerous bayous. To solve the plantation and farm labor shortages, the Company of the Indies directed the African slave trade toward New Orleans in 1719.”[7] Most of the enslaved Africans who entered the colony between 1717 and 1731 were transported directly from Senegambia, a West African region whose cooking ingredients (rice, okra, various spices, legumes, and seafoods) and techniques took firm hold in the colonies.[8],[9] New Orleans distinctive cuisine, then, is a product not just of local ecologies, but also of legacies of violence, erasure, and enslavement. Those same legacies contributed to disproportionate exposure to violence and death in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city in 2005.[10],[11]

And yet, in the months and years following the storm, a curious thing happened to the city’s culinary landscape: it experienced what many referred to as a “renaissance.”[12][13] For many, the restaurant industry became a barometer for broader recovery within the city. “If eating out was a major part of social life in New Orleans before Katrina, after the disaster, eating in restaurants turned into one of the central ways the city’s fabric was to be rewoven.”[14] Tom Fitzmorris, mentioned earlier, maintained an index of all open restaurants in the city beginning just a few weeks after the levees broke on August 29; less than two years after the storm, there were more restaurants operating in the city then there were prior to it.[15] Among these were the old standard-bearers of traditional Creole and Cajun cuisine–Galatoires, Antoines, Commander’s Palace, and countless po-boy shops and neighborhood eateries. But the post-Katrina landscape saw an influx of new restaurants catering to new tastes, including those of young, mostly white transplants, but also large numbers of Latinos, whose labor was essential to the rebuilding of the city. These new New Orleanians embraced a wider range of cuisines and eating experiences, leading to a potential fracturing of what constitutes New Orleans foodways. It is nearly as possible to obtain a banh mi as a po-boy in present day New Orleans[16],[17], leading some to fret that “authentic” New Orleans cuisine is under assault. Others celebrate the evolution of a cuisine that embraces tradition while welcoming innovation and expansion–essentially, a further creolization of the “original” Creole cuisine.

While there will always be debates over the meaning (and value) of “authenticity” in foodways, it is certainly the case that foodways and food culture, especially in New Orleans, reflect broader historical and geographic trends and processes. Contemporary New Orleans foodways are a result of forced and voluntary migrations to this ecologically unique region over the course of several centuries. Embedded within the region’s foodways are tensions and contradictions: gourmet excesses abut food insecurity; a mostly white male hegemony reigns in the city’s kitchens (where recent revelations of widespread sexual assault perpetrated by perhaps New Orleans’ most beloved chef have sparked national conversations[18]); African American creative and cultural capital remains subject to appropriation (and reclamation)–these are just a few examples. And yet, food remains a central source of pride for New Orleanians. With all its complexity and contradictions, New Orleans is (still/more than ever?) full of good places to eat.

-Catarina Passidomo, University of Mississippi

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0030

[1]     Tom Fitzmorris, Tom Fitzmorris’s Hungry Town: A Culinary History of New Orleans, the City Where Food Is Almost Everything (Abrams, 2014).

[2]     Jay D. Ducote, “Cajun vs. Creole Food – What Is the Difference?,” Louisiana Travel, November 25, 2013, https://www.louisianatravel.com/articles/cajun-vs-creole-food-what-difference.

[3]     David Beriss, “Authentic Creole: Tourism, Style and Calamity in New Orleans Restaurants,” in The Restaurants Book: Ethnographies of Where We Eat, ed. David Beriss and David E. Sutton (New York: Berg Publishers, 2007), 151–66.

[4]     Amy Trubek, The Taste of Place (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009)

[5]     Clyde Woods, Development Drowned and Reborn: The Blues and Bourbon Restorations of Post-Katrina New Orleans, ed. Jordan T. Camp and Laura Pulido, vol. 35, Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2017).

[6]     Woods, p. 7

[7]     Woods, p. 9

[8]      Judith Ann Carney and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff, In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World (Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 2009), https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520269965.

[9]      Michael W. Twitty, The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2017).

[10]    Michael Eric Dyson, Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster, 1 edition (New York: Civitas Books, 2007).

[11]     Catarina Passidomo, “Whose Right to (farm) the City? Race and Food Justice Activism in Post-Katrina New Orleans,” Agriculture and Human Values 31, no. 3 (September 2014): 385–96, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9490-x.

[12]     Kim Severson, “The New Orleans Restaurant Bounce, After Katrina,” The New York Times, August 4, 2015, sec. Food, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/dining/new-orleans-restaurants-post-hurricane-katrina.html.

[13]     Brett Anderson, “New Orleans Restaurant Scene Emerging Better after Hurricane Katrina,” The Times-Picayune, August 27, 2010, https://www.nola.com/dining-guide/index.ssf/2010/08/new_orleans_restaurant_scene_h.html.

[14]     Beriss, David and David Sutton, “Starter: Restaurants, Ideal Postmodern Institutions,” in The Restaurants Book: Ethnographies of Where We Eat, ed. David Beriss, and David Sutton (Oxford ; New York: Berg Publishers, 2007), 1–13.

[15]     Fitzmorris, p. 180-181.

[16]     an McNulty, “Orleans Goes Nouvelle,” Gambit, accessed February 23, 2018, https://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/orleans-goes-nouvelle/Content?oid=1571316.

[17]    “The Lives and Loaves of New Orleans,” Southern Foodways Alliance (blog), accessed February 23, 2018, https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-lives-and-loaves-of-new-orleans/.

[18]     Brett Anderson, “John Besh Restaurants Fostered Culture of Sexual Harassment, 25 Women Say,” NOLA.com, accessed February 24, 2018, https://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2017/10/john_besh_restaurants_fostered.html.

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Nora Newcombe and David Lambert to Keynote Geography Education Research Track at 2018 AAG Annual Meeting

The National Center for Research in Geography Education (NCRGE) is pleased to announce keynotes by Nora Newcombe and David Lambert for a special track of geography education sessions during the 2018 AAG Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

The keynotes by Professors Newcombe and Lambert are respectively scheduled for 1:20 – 3:00 PM and 3:20 – 5:00 PM on Thursday, April 12 in Room Galerie 2 in the Marriott French Quarter Hotel. Both exemplify the type of work and thinking that is driving current innovative approaches to researching geographic and spatial learning.

Nora Newcombe’s lecture, “GPS in Our Heads: What Do Behavioral and Neural Data on Navigation Offer to Geography Educators?”, engages the long and controversial proposal that humans can develop cognitive maps of their environment. This talk will give a high-level overview of recent advances in understanding how people navigate at the behavioral and neural levels of analysis, from a wide variety of human as well as non-human species, studied from infancy through aging. Newcombe will also examine development and individual differences. For example, children of three to eight years show progressive increases in their proficiency at combining sources of information. By around 12 years, they show adult-level performance on cognitive mapping tasks requiring the integration of vista views of space into environmental space but also show large individual differences in accuracy. Finally, Newcombe will discuss the relevance of this body of knowledge for geography educators, and present data on the effect of GIS experience on spatial thinking.

Following Newcombe’s lecture, David Lambert will deliver a lecture entitled “Nurturing the ‘Garden of Peace’: Powerful Geographical Knowledge and the Pursuit of Real Education.” The work on which Lambert’s talk is based was in part stimulated by a paper by David Wadley that appeared in the Annals of the AAG some ten years ago. A retort to neoliberal orthodoxies, Wadley’s paper “The Garden of Peace” made a special case for the role of education in helping us resist the famous Thatcher line that ‘there is no alternative’. This democratic sentiment was not dissimilar to the thinking that fueled the Geographical Association’s 2009 ‘manifesto’ entitled A Different View, which was an explicit endorsement of the western liberal traditions in education – essentially, that to be educated means that you can think in a reasoned manner, and for yourself. Lambert’s talk explores what has followed from these beginnings, especially in the context of Michael Young’s concept of ‘powerful knowledge’ and its influence on curriculum thinking. One aspect of Young’s recent work is the distinction he now makes about power: that is, between the power over someone/something and the power to be able to do something. Lambert will explore whether geographical knowledge, such as that which is taught in schools and colleges, can be considered ‘powerful’ – and if so in what way? In terms of the capabilities it affords those who possess it, powerful knowledge must be considered a pedagogic right to all – not just the ‘academically gifted’ or the elite. Lambert will conclude by discussing the ambition and potential of powerful knowledge in geography education, as well as its major challenges and difficulties.

About the National Center for Research in Geography Education

NCRGE is a research consortium with headquarters at the American Association of Geographers and Texas State University. Funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, private foundations and other agencies, NCRGE works to build capacity for transformative research in geography education.

Each year at the AAG Annual Meeting, NCRGE organizes a track of research-oriented geography education sessions and workshops to highlight contemporary work in the field and advance the development of a research coordination network. The sessions planned for the 2018 meeting in New Orleans will illustrate the dynamism and breadth of research, theory, and practice in geography education and how geographers and educational researchers are engaged in collaborative work to address contemporary challenges affecting the discipline.

AAG members and others interested in geography education research are encouraged to join the NCRGE research coordination network by completing an application at www.ncrge.org/rcn.

About the Speakers

Nora S. Newcombe is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology at Temple University. She received her B.A. in 1972 from Antioch College and her Ph.D. in 1976 from Harvard University. Her research focuses on spatial cognition and development, and the development of episodic memory. She is currently Principal Investigator of the NSF-funded Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC) whose purpose is to develop the science of spatial learning and to use this knowledge to support children and adults in acquiring scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) skills. Dr. Newcombe is the author of numerous publications including Making Space with Janellen Huttenlocher (MIT Press, 2000). She has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from SRCD (2015), the William James Award from APS (2014), the George A. Miller Award for an Outstanding Recent Article in General Psychology (twice, 2004 and 2014) and the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology (2007). She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006) and to the Society of Experimental Psychologists (2008). She has served as Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin, has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. She is currently the Past Chair of the Governing Board of the Cognitive Science Society, Chair of Section J (Psychology) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and President-Elect of the Federation of Associations of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

David Lambert is Professor of Geography Education at University College London Institute of Education (UCL – IOE). Obtaining his BA from the University of Newcastle in 1973 he went on to his post graduate professional training at the University of Cambridge. He was a secondary school teacher for twelve years, becoming a deputy principal of a comprehensive school. He became a university teacher-educator from 1986, developing research interests in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in geography education. His school textbook series Jigsaw Pieces published by Cambridge University Press won the TES school book of the year award in 1991. Receiving his doctorate in 1995 from the University of London, he rose to become Assistant Dean for teacher education in 1999. He left temporarily the academy in 2002 when he was appointed full-time chief executive of the Geographical Association (GA) (www.geography.org.uk). He returned to the IOE as professor in 2007 and was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Taylor Francis Award for leadership in geography education in 2015. Recent books include Knowledge and the Future School (2014), Learning to Teach Geography (3rd Edition, 2015), and Debates in Geography Education (2nd Edition, 2017). He chairs the Editorial Collective of Geography and serves as Associate Editor of International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education. He led the European Union funded GeoCapabilities project from 2013-17 (www.geocapabilities.org).

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Louisiana’s Turn to Mass Incarceration: The Building of a Carceral State

Louisiana’s prison and jail incarceration rates from 1978 to 2015 showing the number of people incarcerated in state prisons and local jails per 100,000 people; https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/jailsovertime.html#methodology

The history of the Louisiana penal system is marked through crisis. For the majority of the 20th century such crises revolved around the state’s singular prison, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly referred to as Angola. Having long been known as the “bloodiest prison in the nation,” the prison entered into an unmatched crisis of legitimacy in the 1970s. Conditions were wretched and stabbings and escapes were monthly affairs.[1] Within this climate, scores of incarcerated people filed lawsuits against the penitentiary. In 1975, U.S. Magistrate Frank Polozola found in favor of four Black prisoners at Angola, Arthur Mitchell Jr., Hayes Williams, Lee E. Stevenson, and Lazarus D. Joseph, who had filed a lawsuit against Angola in 1971 for numerous constitutional issues including medical neglect, unsafe facilities, religious discrimination, racial segregation, and overcrowding. Polozola declared the penitentiary to be in a state of “extreme public emergency.”[2] Massive changes were ordered in the name of restoring incarcerated people’s constitutional rights.[3] For the next several years, the Louisiana penal system, including parish jails, were under the jurisdiction of federal court orders.

Map of Louisiana State Penitentiary-Angola, Creative Commons

While many issues were brought to the forefront through this legal ruling, overcrowding became the central issue for the Department of Corrections (DOC) and the broader state. The federal courts ordered that Angola’s prison population be reduced from over 4,000 prisoners to 2,641 prisoners within a few months time.[4] In response, the DOC advocated for the “decentralization” of Angola through creating small rehabilitation focused prisons and the potential for shuttering Angola altogether. With time at a premium, the DOC scrambled to find and convert a wide range of surplus state property from schools, to hospitals, to even a decommissioned navy ship into new prisons.[5] Recent infusions of federal funds in the form of Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) grants and the exponential increase in state revenues do to the global jump in oil prices following the 1973 OPEC price hike meant that funding such conversions was of little concern to the state. However, the DOC had extreme difficulty in attaining the support of local residents who routinely protested new prison plans.[6] Mobilized via fears of “dangerous criminals” that they believed would not only make their communities unsafe but would also lower their property taxes, communities from Caddo Parish to Bossier City to New Orleans East were successful in keeping out new satellite prisons.[7] At the same time, parish jails throughout Louisiana entered into their own state of emergency as they were forced to accommodate the hundreds of prisoners prohibited from being transferred to Angola inciting anger in local sheriffs statewide.[8] In response to these challenges, DOC Secretary Elayn Hunt and Angola Warden C. Paul Phelps, who had long been concerned with the rise of “lifers” at Angola, joined the call led by Angola’s incarcerated activists for a different solution to the overcrowding crisis: the early release of prisoners.[9]

Harry Connick Campaign Ad 1973, The Times-Picayune

However, the New Orleans D.A. Harry Connick was adamantly against such proposals. At the time, Connick was in the process of building his career upon the racialized tough on crime politics sweeping the nation. He routinely attacked DOC officials in the press for advocating early release and alternatives to incarceration.[10] In fact, in the same months the federal court orders were coming down, he successfully pushed for more punitive policies and practices through working with the NOPD to attain LEAA grants to expand policing powers.[11] In addition, he personally drafted dozens of draconian crime bills that instituted mandatory sentencing and reduced good time and parole eligibility, which the increasingly law and order state legislature was more than happy to pass.[12] With arrest rates going up,[13] sentencing becoming harsher and the number of people being paroled steadily dropping, overcrowding pressure intensified across the state.[14] Thus, Louisiana was confronted with a range of different pushes and pulls, from federal court rulings, to parish level politics, to active disagreement among state and city officials, to global political economic realignments and new federal monies, as state leaders attempted to figure out the future direction of the penal system.

By the decade’s end, it was clear that Louisiana’s politicians were attempting to build their way out of the overcrowding crisis. Three new prisons had been built with more on the way and thousands of new beds were added to Angola more than doubling the state’s prison population from 3,550 people in 1975 to 8,661 people in 1980.[15] This unprecedented carceral state building project was emboldened and buttressed by the 1980 election of David Treen to governor who had explicitly campaigned on a tough on crime platform and by Polozola, now a federal judge, who began to mandate that Louisiana deal with its continual overcrowding crisis through expanding the prison system.[16] Yet, as incarcerated activists with The Angolite and the Lifers Association as well as free world prison reformers argued at the time, growing the state’s carceral apparatus did not solve the crisis but propelled further overcrowding.[17] The ongoing overcrowding at the prisons further increased pressure on dozens of parish jails as they were yet again, relied on to house thousands of state prisoners, leading to overflowing jails from New Orleans to Lafayette.[18]  In the case of New Orleans, the situation became so dire that in the summer of 1983 then Sheriff Foti erected a tent jail in the face of overcrowding at the city jail, Orleans Parish Prison (OPP).[19]

Editorial cartoon; Sept. 24, 1989, from the Times-Picayune

While sheriffs everywhere were frustrated by this situation, their response to such overcrowding was markedly different in the early 1980s than it had been in the mid-1970s. When parish jails had filled to capacity in response to the 1975 court orders, sheriffs lobbied to get state prisoners out of their jails.[20] But only a few years later, while sheriffs collectively petitioned the state to get so-called “violent offenders” out of their jails they also pushed for funds to renovate and expand the parish jails to make space for both folks awaiting trial as well as state prisoners.[21] We can understand this shift from a number of vantage points. While in 1975 the overcrowding crisis appeared to be temporary, by the early 1980s there was no sign of incarceration rates letting up as Governor Treen and the state legislature continued to press for the passage punitive crime bills. In addition, when parish officials had been compelled to release people to stay within the population limits set by Judge Polozola, the media attacked them for letting “criminals” loose into the streets.[22] With both politicians and the media employing such fear-mongering tactics, political will was on the side of jail expansion versus early release or alternatives to incarceration as a solution to the overcrowding. In fact, Governor Treen’s decision to prioritize jail construction over education, healthcare, and levees in the state budget was “not out of a desire to make life easier for these convicts but to make sure that no judge feels compelled to release somebody back into society who should not be there just because prisons are overcrowded.”[23] And indeed, as the Louisiana Coalition on Jails and Prisons would highlight in their decarceration campaigns throughout the 1980s, the atrocious conditions within jails persisted alongside their shiny new renovations.[24]

Sheriffs’ desires to build up their parish jails aligned not only with the dominant law and order politics of racial neoliberal governance, but also with the economic conditions confronted by the state. When sheriffs were first required to take in state prisoners in 1975 it was a financial burden since the DOC was paying sheriff departments a per diem rate of only $4.50/day per prisoner.[25] But as the overcrowding crisis wore on, local parish officials, including sheriffs, successfully petitioned the state to increase the per diem to $18.25 by 1980.[26] The higher per diem rate made sheriffs much more amenable to housing state prisoners as they were able to use the funds to build out their departments’ carceral infrastructure. Sheriffs throughout the state leveraged such jail growth to expand their political power both within their own parishes and through the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association.

What’s more is this per diem system met the financial needs of the broader state as well. Since the Jim Crow regime, the state had been loathe to finance the penal system.[27] To meet mandates of the federal courts, the state was required to increase funding to the Department of Corrections on an unmatched scale. The DOC budget during this time shot up from $20 million in 1974 to $135 million by 1982 with tens of millions of dollars spent on new prison construction which, as previously mentioned, was easily funded for the first several years through unexpected oil revenues.[28] Yet as oil dependent economies are notoriously precarious, Louisiana entered into a fiscal crisis in the early 1980s in response to the global oil slump.[29] With the state’s fiscal crisis and accompanied economic recession deepening throughout the 1980s, state officials sought new solutions for maintaining carceral growth. While state officials turned to debt-financing for new carceral construction, the state’s inability to cover prison operating costs with such debt schemes put the state in a conundrum. Although prisoners and decarceration activists offered the solution of the state curtailing law and order politics and instituting mass parole as other states had in similar situations, Louisiana turned to upping its reliance on the parish jail system as a more politically and financially viable option. [30]  As the per diem rate was much lower than the costs of keeping prisoners incarcerated in state prisons, the state forged ahead with creating multi-decade cooperation endeavor agreements between the Department of Corrections and a slew of primarily rural parishes to house the lion’s share of state prisoners. What had started out as a temporary spatial fix had become the long-term geographic solution to prison overcrowding.

By the time Louisiana gained the title of having the highest incarceration rate in the nation in the late 1990s, almost half of the state’s prisoners were behind bars in parish jails with New Orleans’ OPP at 7,000 plus beds, the largest carceral facility in the state.[31] Although when the jail was first enlarged to this mammoth size, its jail population had stabilized to around 5,000. Yet only five years later, the jail was at capacity. Three thousand of those locked away were state prisoners while a combination of people awaiting trial who could not afford to pay exorbitant bail bonds, individuals serving municipal offenses, a growing number of juveniles, and INS immigrant prisoners held through federal contracts filled the remaining 4,000 beds. Many of those held behind OPP’s walls at Tulane and Broad avenues were targets of intensified policing crackdowns during the 1990s. Although officially most crime was in decline during the 1990s in New Orleans, the escalation of fear-based, racially-coded news media made controlling the city’s supposed lawlessness a priority for city leaders who were concerned about the negative impacts of such reporting on the tourist economy.[32] Under the administration of Mayor Marc Morial and his Police Superintendent Richard Pennington, the NOPD implemented a form of “community policing” to saturate the city’s housing projects, the French Quarter, and Downtown Development District with law enforcement.[33] This spatial strategy for law enforcement illuminated the interlaced primacy of “sanitizing” the city’s tourist epicenters of the homeless, youth, queer and trans people, and sex workers as well as containing and controlling Black working class spaces. Such policing tactics served to fill OPP to the brim by the time Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the Crescent City on August 29, 2005 and prisoners were abandoned by the state to flooded cells.[34]

In the dozen years since the levee breaks, attention has finally begun to be given to the crisis of mass incarceration in Louisiana. The sustained community organizing of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition (OPPRC) successfully campaigned for OPP to be rebuilt on the much smaller scale of 1438 beds in 2010 while the creation of the Independent Police Monitor’s Office and the Department of Justice’s implementation of a consent decree on the NOPD has tempered police misconduct.[35] This past summer organizations such as VOTE (Voice of the Experienced) were successful in getting the state legislature to pass ban the box legislation and raising the age that juveniles can be tried as adults.[36]

French Quarter Security Task Force vehicle; photo by Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, 2017

However, these local gains have never been final victories. Public defenders in Louisiana continue to be woefully underfunded. The current New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has been pushing a law and order surveillance plan for the city while the New Orleans city council is bending towards the will of Sheriff Marlin Gusman that the city needs to raise the jail cap for a “Phase Three” of construction at OPP.[37] Several front-runners in the upcoming mayoral and city council elections are following old tough on crime scripts in making expanding the NOPD the number one piece of their political platform. The current Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry recently sent his own rogue band of state troopers to police New Orleans and has been working with AG Jeff Sessions to repeal the consent decree governing the NOPD.[38] AAG attendees are likely to catch a glimpse of the French Quarter Management District’s private security vehicles that work in alliance with the NOPD and state troopers. Their explicit mandate from the French Quarter business leaders is to crack down on perceived sex workers, transgender individuals, street musicians, and others they deem “undesirable” to the imperatives of racial capital.

While the future of the Louisiana carceral state remains uncertain, it is clear that understanding the multiscalar factors that have produced the current crisis of mass incarceration is a critical starting point to undoing this systematic violence and striving towards the still unrealized project of abolition democracy.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0025

[1] “State Prison Inmate Slain in Stabbing,” State Times (Baton Rouge, LA), July 18, 1974, 9-A.

[2] Williams v. McKeithan C.A 71-98 (M.D.La, 1975), US Magistrate Special Report; Gibbs Adams, “Federal Court Orders State Prison Changes,” The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), April 29, 1975. Judge West backed up Polozola in ordering sweeping changes. However, it is worth noting that Polozola had nothing to say about one of the plaintiffs main complaints: solitary confinement. “4 Inmates Ask Changes in Pen Safety Reform Plan,” State Times (Baton Rouge, LA), May 6, 1975.

[3] Williams v. McKeithan C.A 71-98 (M.D.La, 1975), Judgement and Order.

[4] Louisiana Prison System Study, 29, Governor’s Office Long Range Prison Study Files, 1972-1980, Box 1, Louisiana State Archives.

[5] C.M. Hargroder, “7 Prison Sites Proposed,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), September 16, 1975; “World War II Troopship May Be Used As Floating Louisiana Prison,” Monroe Morning World (Monroe, LA), October 26, 1975.

[6]“Executive Budget 1974-1975, Vol. 1,” Box 1: Executive Budget 1975-1980, State Budget Reports 1970-1989, Louisiana State Archives (LSA); “State of Louisiana Budget Fiscal Year 1974-1975,” Box 3, State Budget Reports 1970-1989, LSA; “State of Louisiana Budget Fiscal Year 1975-1976,” Box 3, State Budget Reports 1970-1989, LSA.

[7] Bonnie Davis, “Residents Will Protest Use of Carver School as Prison,” Shreveport Times (Shreveport, LA), July 24, 1975; Lynn Stewart, “State May Seize Site in Caddo for Prison,” Shreveport Times (Shreveport, LA), August 19, 1975; “Bossier Prison Site Reported Ruled Out,” Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), March 19, 1976; Richard Boyd, “Council Vows to Fight East N.O. Prison Facility” States Item (New Orleans, LA), April 23, 1976; Patricia Gorman, “Homes Closed to Inmates”  States Item (New Orleans, LA), April 30, 1976.

[8] Roy Reed, “Louisiana’s Jails Are Being Packed,” New York Times (New York, New York), September 18, 1975; Pierre V. DeGruy, “ ‘State of Emergency’ at Parish Jail—Foti, “The Times Picayune (New Orleans, LA), October 16, 1975.

[9] “Two Year Time Limit Termed Impossible for Angola Changes,” State Times (Baton Rouge, LA), June 17, 1975; Tommy Mason, “Lifer’s,” The Angolite, August 1975, 23; John McCormick, “Legal Action: Our Goodtime Law May Be Changed,” The Angolite, September 1975, 1-2.

[10] Associated Press, “Inmate Release Policy Blasted,” Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), June 9, 197; Ed Anderson, “Connick Attacks Parole Board Plan,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), October 28, 1975.

[11] “ ‘Career Criminal’ Bureau for N.O.” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), March 19, 1975.

[12] Jack Wardlaw, “Connick Wins Anti-‘Good Time’ Battle in House,” State Item (Baton Rouge, LA), July 2, 1975; 12-a; Pierre V. DeGruy, “Connick Endeavors in Legislature Pay Off: Entire Package is Passed” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), July 31, 1975.

[13] “Jail Overload Credited to Police Work,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), April 17, 1980.

[14] “Criminals Face Harsher Penalties as New Law Takes Effect,” State Item (Baton Rouge, LA), September 17, 1975.

[15] Louisiana Prison System Study, 4, Governor’s Office Long Range Prison Study Files, 1972-1980, Box 1, LSA; Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, “The Data: Prison Crowding in Louisiana, 1988,” Folder 9: Prison Reform Reports, Remarks, Statements 1987-1988, Box 3, Rev. James Stovall Papers, Louisiana State University.

[16] Treen: ‘Going to Be Touch to Get a Pardon From Me’ “ Alexandria Town Talk (Alexandria, LA), March 9, 1980; Gibbs Adams, “State Prisons Must Expand,” Morning Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), May 19, 1983.

[17] “Remarks by Jack D. Foster, Project Director Law and Justice Section, The Council of Staet Governments Before The Governor’s Pardon, Parole, and Rehabilitation Commission,” May 9, 1977, Folder 2: Governors Pardon, Parole, and Rehabilitation Commission Remarks and Reports, Box 3, Rev. James Stovall Papers, Louisiana State University; “The Crowded Cage,” The Angolite, November/December 1983, 35-60.

[18] “Orleans Prison Above Inmate Ceiling for 3 Months,” State Times (Baton Rouge, LA), May 17, 1983; Nanette Russell, “District Attorney Angry State Prisoners in Jails,” Lafayette Advertiser (Lafayette, LA), June 28, 1983.

[19] “Foti Gets OK to Put Inmates in Tents,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), June 14, 1983.

[20] Pierre V. Degruy, “Packed Prison Feared,” The Times Picayune (New Orleans, LA), September 12, 1975.

[21] Memo from Carey J. Roussel to Donald G. Bollinger, March 17, 1981, Folder 1: Public Safety 1981, Box 815: P 1981, David Treen Papers, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University; “Sheriff Layrisson Angry Over Jail Fund Postponement,” Vindicator (Hammond, LA), May 25, 1983.

[22] Monte Williams, “Crowded Jails Let Criminals Free,” Daily Iberian (New Iberia, LA), June 12, 1983.

[23] “Comments on Governor David C. Treen’s Criminal Justice Package for Possible Use by President Reagan in his September 28 Speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police,” Folder 4: Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice 1981, Box 796: L 1981, David Treen Papers, Tulane University.

[24] Louisiana Coalition on Jails & Prisons, “Jail Project Update” pamphlet, 1981, Folder: Louisiana Coalition, Box 2, Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons Records, 1974-1980, The Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Louisiana Coalition on Jails & Prisons, “Louisiana Jails” pamphlet, n.d., Folder: Louisiana Coalition, Box 2, Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons Records, 1974-1980, The Southern Historical Collection, Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[25] “Legislative Digest,” The Angolite, September/October 1978, 9.

[26] Memo from C. Paul Phelps to William A. Nungesser, October 3, 1980, Folder 8: Corrections 1980, Box 666: C 1980, David Treen Papers, Tulane University.

[27] Mark T. Carleton, Politics and Punishment; the History of the Louisiana State Penal System (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1971).

[28] “Executive Budget 1974-1975, Vol. 1,” 9, Box 1, State Budget Reports 1970-1989, Louisiana State Archives; “Louisiana State Budget 1982-1983,” 39, Box 4, State Budget Reports 1970-1989, Louisiana State Archives;

[29] “Executive Budget Program 1982-1983 Vol 1,” A11, Box 2: Executive Budgets 1980-1985, Louisiana State Archives. For more on the precarity of oil economies at this time see Petter Nore and Terisa Turner, Oil and Class Struggle (London: Zed Press, 1980).

[30] “The Moment of Truth” The Angolite, May/June 1982, 12.

[31] Southern Legislative Conference, Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office, Adult Corrections Systems 1998, by Christopher A. Keaton, (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1999),  7-8.

[32] Chris Adams, “Tragedy Marks a Night of Crime,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), August 5, 1990; Walt Philbin, “Shooting Sets Murder Record,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), October 23, 1990; Michael Perlstein, “Beyond the Bullet – Murder in New Orleans,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), July 1, 1993; Sheila Grissett, “Murder Rate in N.O. Exceeds One a Day,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), July 17, 1993; Sheila Stroup, “When Will It All End?” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), July 26, 1994. International Association of Police Chiefs, The New Orleans Police Department Revisited, June 29, 1993, 2-8, Marc H. Morial Papers. Box 33, Folder 1: Morial Transition The New Orleans Police Department, Revisited 1993, Amistad Research Center.

[33] Building New Orleans Together: City of New Orleans 1997 Annual Report, 1997, 7, Box 43, Folder 7: Mayoral City of New Orleans Annual Reports, Marc H. Morial Papers 1994-2002, Amistad Research Center.

[34] ACLU National Prison Project, Abandoned and Abused: Orleans Parish Prisoners in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, report (2006).

[35] https://www.nola.gov/nopd/nopd-consent-decree/

[36] This is not to be confused with the widely lauded bipartisan package of prison reform bills that passed the Louisiana legislature last summer, which has served to primarily tinker with the penal system rather than make meaningful reforms. “Louisiana’s Parole Reform Law Continues a Positive Trend in Criminal Justice Reform,” Voice of the Experienced, accessed September 26, 2017, https://www.vote-nola.org/archive/louisianas-parole-reform-law-continues-a-positive-trend-in-criminal-justice-reform.

[37] Emily Lane, “At Orleans Jail, Monitor and Judge See ‘light at the End of the Tunnel‘,” NOLA.com, June 08, 2017, accessed September 26, 2017, .

[38] Jim Mustain, “Attorney General Jeff Landry Slams Mitch Landrieu, Says New Orleans ‘more Dangerous than Chicago’,” The Advocate, January 07, 2017, accessed September 26, 2017; Richard Rainey, “AG Landry Met with Trump, Sessions; Discussed Law Enforcement,” NOLA.com, March 01, 2017, accessed September 26, 2017.

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Élisée Reclus in Louisiana (1853-1855): Encounters with Racism and Slavery

In January 1853, the future anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus (1830-1905) arrived in Louisiana, where he spent almost three years. Reclus was in self-exile, having left France in the wake of Louis-Napoléon’s 1851 coup d’état. Élisée and his older brother Élie, future anarchist anthropologist, had organized local opposition to the coup, but left ahead of the authorities for sanctuary in England and Ireland. After various jobs, Élisée decided to see the New World, and booked passage on a ship bound for New Orleans. Antebellum New Orleans was still largely a bilingual city, with both professional and proletarian class French speakers, and francophone publications. Reclus’s biographers are unanimous in stating the importance that this sojourn played in shaping the ideas and the personality of someone later considered as a founding figure in both scientific geography and socialist libertarianism (anarchism). (Dunbar 1978; Clark and Martin 2013; Ferretti 2014; Pelletier 2013). In Louisiana, according to his most recent biographer Christophe Brun, Reclus “fortified his atheism, anticlericalism, antislavery, anti-capitalism” (Brun 2015, 29). The New Orleans Reclus entered was the second largest port in the U.S., exceeded only by New York. It was also second to New York in the number of immigrants arriving, and New York had just surpassed New Orleans as the nation’s prime banking center. By many measures New Orleans rivalled New York as the most prosperous city in the U.S., led by its banking, shipping, sugar, cotton and slave trading economy. Reclus stepped ashore into scenes of dynamic, raw capitalism – a bustling world port, trading all manner of commodities, including humans. It also boasted a non-stop carnivalesque character (not much changed from today) with more bars and bordellos per unit area than anywhere in North America, save frontier boomtowns. Atop this street-level demimonde, a genteel stratum of older “Creole” (French and Spanish) and newly arrived “Anglo” planters preceded over a society bent on both pleasure and profit. Reclus initially found work on the docks, where free labor was the exception. Given his background and education, he soon found employment as a tutor to the children of sugar planter Septime Fortier, at their upriver plantation Félicité. This gave Reclus an intimate inside view of the workings of planter society, one that he increasingly found repellent.

Fig. 1 – La Nouvelle Orléans – vue prise par la levée (Reclus, 1892, 492)

 

At the same time, Reclus took the opportunity to further his geographical studies (he had studied with Carl Ritter in Berlin). Fascinated by the Mississippi River and its hinterlands, he travelled upriver as far as Chicago (Reclus 1859). The amphibious nature of the city of New Orleans, he compared to “an enormous raft on the river’s water” (Reclus 1860a, 189), and the problems of town and regional planning that this situation implied, were one of the first issues that impressed the young geographer. In the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, John P. Clark argued that “much of what [Reclus] said is rather prophetic” (Clark 2007, 11), stressing the accuracy of Reclus’s analyses on the necessity of a rational planning and a harmonic integration between humankind and environment. For the anarchist geographer, this task stood in complete antithesis with the logics of capitalism, building on speculation and commodification. Almost forty years later, in the volume of the New Universal Geography dedicated to the United States, Reclus described his old Saint-Simonian dream of claiming this land for social purposes. “When the line of division between land and sea will be established, then it will be possible to claim this region for agriculture and to transform Louisiana in a new Holland through a system of dams” (Reclus 1892, 489).

Fig. 2. Paquebot et bateau remorquer sur le Mississippi (Reclus, 1860a, 185)

 

However, it is on the topics of race, slavery and exploitation that Reclus took special advantage of his experience in Louisiana, becoming one of the principal European advocates of North American abolitionists during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, and a lifelong antiracist and anti-colonialist (Ferretti 2014). According to Clark, “Reclus was unusual among classical radical theorists in grasping racism as a major form of domination – an understanding that resulted in large part from his experience in Louisiana” (Clark 2007, 16-17). Ronald Creagh (2012) also notes that Reclus’s analyses of the American Civil War were more complex than the merely economistic views of Karl Marx, because the anarchist geographer analyzed the different kinds and levels of oppression that operated in the North American society.

In Reclus’s (1855) “Fragment d’un voyage à la Nouvelle Orléans,” an article published as a travel narrative for the popular French journal Le Tour du Monde, his dismay and indignation before the spectacle of a slave market were expressed in vivid terms:

On a platform stands the auctioneer, a large, red-faced, bloated man with a booming voice: “Come on, Jim! Get up on the table. How much for this good nigger Jim? Look how strong he is! He’s got good teeth! Look at the muscles on his arms! Come on, now, dance for us, Jim!” And he makes the slave turn around. “Here’s a nigger who knows how to do everything – he’s a carpenter, a cartwright, and a shoemaker. He won’t talk back – you never need to hit him.” But most of the time there are long whitish rays etched by the whip on their black skin. Then it is a Negro woman’s turn: “Look at this wench! She’s already had two niggers, and she’s still young. Look at her strong back and sturdy chest! She’s a good wet nurse, and a good negress for work!” And the bidding starts again amid laughter and shouts. Thus all the Negroes of Louisiana pass in turn on this fateful table: children who have just ended their seventh year and whom the law in its solicitude deems old enough to be separated from their mothers; young girls subjected to the stares of two thousand spectators and sold by the pound; mothers who come to see their children stolen from them, and who are obliged to remain cheerful while threatened by the whip; and the elderly, who have already been auctioned off many times, and who have to appear one last time before these pale-faced men who despise them and jeer at their white hair. … Sold off for a few dollars, they might as well be buried like animals in the cypress forest. According to the advocates of slavery, all this is willed by the cause of progress itself, the doctrines of our holy religion, and the most sacred laws of family and property (Reclus 1855, 190; English version in Clark and Martin 2003, 83-84).

Nevertheless, together with the dynamics of oppression, Reclus also analyzed subaltern agency and resistance, stressing the on-going efforts of Black slaves to get an instruction, a point that the geographer considered as strategic for any project of social emancipation. “One even mentions Blacks who learned reading alone by studying the names of the boats they saw constantly floating on the Mississippi. Planters are aware of that and start to fear for their future” (Reclus 1859, 625). Reclus was likewise prophetic in foreseeing the incoming conflicts which Southern society would have experienced in the following years, and concluded that: “For all generous men, rare in America as all over the world, the only homeland is liberty” (Reclus 1855, 192). In his correspondence, Reclus expressed the impossibility of remaining in this system without being morally accomplice of slavery and oppression, what determined his decision of leaving. As he wrote to his brother Élie in 1855, “I need to starve, now … For me, it would be better than robbing the Blacks, who deserve the money I put in my pocket by their blood and their sweat; getting back on the chain of oppression, that’s me who keep somehow the whip, and I am hating that” (Reclus 1911, 104-105). Feeling the need to leave Louisiana before he was further compromised, Reclus embarked on the steamboat Philadelphia in December 1855, bound for Colombia via Cuba and Panama. He settled in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia with the idea of forming a multi-ethnic community of progressive-minded European colonists and local folk, including indigenous people. Disease and failed recruitment efforts doomed the venture. But his time in Colombia gave him material for his first book – Voyage à la Sierra-Nevada de Sainte-Marthe; paysages de la nature tropicale (1861) (Mathewson 2016).

Reclus returned to France in 1857 to embark on a highly successful career as publisher of geographical studies and political writings. As a geographer, he started with publishing articles in the popular journal Revue des Deux Mondes. He contributed a series of articles describing the condition of the Afro-Americans and expressing radical anti-slavery positions. According to Soizic Alavoine-Muller, “Reclus’s clear opinions and his sharp arguments could exert a decisive influence on the Revue’s readers” (Alavoine-Muller 2007, 43). This meant that Reclus’s ideas had an important impact on French public opinion, because the Revue was the most read French periodical of that time, with a distribution of around 16,000 copies per issue. A very significant topic discussed by the anarchist geographer was the principle of the solidarity of freedoms and rights: if they are threatened anywhere, this concerns all kinds of oppressed people all over the world. “The degradation of Black slaves is that of all proletarians, and their liberation will be the most beautiful victory for all the oppressed in the two worlds” (Reclus 1860, 870). Another significant feature of Reclus’s thinking was his idea that juridical equality and end of formal slavery would not mean automatically complete emancipation, a problem which still today dramatically haunts the debates on the rights of Afro-Americans.

Indeed, Reclus’s articles continued to focus on these problems also after the end of the war in 1865, denouncing the sloppy or ineffective purge of pro-slavery Southern leaders and the retaliation that freed slaves were suffering in several Southern states (Reclus 1866). Again, Reclus insisted on the necessity of education for emancipation, praising those teachers who challenged the threads of pro-slavery people by reconstructing the schools where “the children of the ancient slaves … will certainly learn the virtues of the citizens” (1866, 788). In countering the advocates of scientific racism, especially those committed to the notion of “purity” of race (Coquery-Vidrovitch 2003), Reclus proposed generalized miscegenation as an antidote to racial hatred. He came back to this proposal in his final book, L’Homme et la Terre (1908), published posthumously fifty years after his departure from New Orleans. Here he offered a final assessment of the social progresses accomplished in the United States in the decades after the end of the Secession War:

“Despite what is being said, the population of the United States, red, white and black, is ready for this despised evolution called miscegenation. The union of races will be done from below. Among the abolitionists’ sons, generous men will be able to stand upon prejudices of caste and colour and found families whose children may have a brown shadow on their cheeks. In the big cities, where migrants are more and more concentrated, the girls from abroad, Irish, German and Slavic, are no longer willing to be subjugated … Several of them become wittingly the partner of a Black who charms them for his handsomeness, strength and goodness. Finally, among Americans, misery often associates the wretched of the two races. In the big army of revindications, Blacks and Whites march side by side, and the shared sufferings made the colour diversity disappear (Reclus 1908, 108-109).

Therefore, in Reclus’s thinking, racial emancipation was linked to class struggle and also to women’s emancipation, a view that anticipated some features of what is called today “intersectionality.”

Nevertheless, in the same work, Reclus nuanced his optimism by denouncing the “disguised slavery” which was represented by the discrimination and social subordination that most of the Afro-Americans still suffered in the United States. He sarcastically wrote: “Everywhere, in the buses, trains, theatres, schools, churches, one cares for people of the despised caste can’t soil the noble sons of Japheth with their contact. In case of serious violations, horrible practices of torture became so common that one might consider them as a part of local common law” (Reclus 1908, 107).

It is also worth noting that Reclus was not only a supporter of the Afro-Americans, but also of the Amerindian peoples in both North and Latin America, condemning the crimes of the conquest and the still on-going genocide of the “Redskins” by war, alcohol and diseases (Ferretti 2013). It is possible to conclude that Reclus’s sojourn in Louisiana was paramount in inspiring some of the most radical contents of his engaged geography, one which still talks to present-day debates on geography as a means to counter oppression, racism, sexism and social exclusion.

— Federico Ferretti
School of Geography
University College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0024

References

Alavoine-Muller, S. 2007. Introduction. In Reclus, É. Les États-Unis et la Guerre de Sécession: articles publiés dans la Revue des Deux Mondes, 1-70. Paris, Editions du CTHS.

Brun, C. 2015. Élisée Reclus, une chronologie familiale. Raforum, https://raforum.info/reclus/spip.php?article455

Clark, J. 2007. Letter from New Orleans. In élisée Reclus, natura e educazione, ed. M. Schmidt di Friedberg, 11-33. Milan: Bruno Mondadori.

Clark, J. and C. Martin. 2003. A Voyage to New Orleans: Anarchist Impressions of the Old South (revised and expanded edition). Thetford, VT: Glad Day Books.

Anarchy, geography, modernity: Selected writings of Élisée Reclus. Oakland: PM Press.

Coquery-Vidrovitch, C. Le postulat de la supériorité blanche et de l’infériorité noire. In Le livre noir du colonialisme, ed. M. Ferro, 646-691. Paris: Laffont.

Creagh, R. 2012. Élisée Reclus et les États-Unis. Paris: Noir & Rouge.

Dunbar, G. 1978. Élisée Reclus historian of nature. Hamden: Archon Books.

Ferretti, F. 2010. Comment Élisée Reclus est devenu athée. Un nouveau document biographique. Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography: https://cybergeo.revues.org/22981

Ferretti, F. 2013. Un regard hétérodoxe sur le Nouveau Monde: la géographie d’Élisée Reclus et l’extermination des Amérindiens (1862-1905). Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 99, 141-164.

Mathewson, K. 2016. Élisée Reclus’ Latin Americanist geography. Terra Brasilis https://terrabrasilis.revues.org/1849

Nettlau, M. 1928. Élisée Reclus, vida de un sabio justo y rebelde. Barcelona: Ediciones de la Revista Blanca.

Pelletier, P. 2013. Géographie et anarchie. Paris: Editions du monde libertaire.

Reclus, E. 1859. Le Mississipi. Études et souvenirs. 2. Le delta et la Nouvelle-Orléans. La Revue des Deux Mondes, 22, 608-646.

  • Fragment d’un voyage à La Nouvelle-Orléans, 1855. Tour du Monde, 1, 177-192.
  • De l’esclavage aux États-Unis I. Le Code noir et les esclaves. Revue des Deux Mondes, 30, 868-901.
  • Histoire des États Américains, États-Unis. Annuaire des Deux Mondes, 1, 646-788.
  • Nouvelle Géographie universelle, vol. XVI, les Etats Unis. Paris: Hachette.
  • L’Homme et la Terre, vol. 6. Paris : Librairie Universelle.
  • Correspondance, vol. 1. Paris : Schleicher.

 

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Federico Ferretti
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Coastal Land Loss in Louisiana: From Denial to Reality

The coastline formed by the Mississippi River is changing continually as part of the never-ending interplay between the forces and processes reshaping and realigning coastal contours and bathymetry. Over millennia, this formative process created Louisiana’s expansive wetlands that once encompassed 7.3 million acres (11,500 square miles) – about the size of Connecticut and Delaware combined – and accounted for at least 40 percent of the nation’s marsh/swamp ecosystems. This natural land-building process, however, has been disrupted by human activities in recent decades—with catastrophic results. Deprived of essential sediments, Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are subsiding and eroding at an alarming pace that casts into doubt humanity’s ability to inhabit and exploit one of the planet’s most economically productive regions.

Erosion alone claims an area the size of a football field every hour, as canals, subsidence, muskrat and nutria eat-outs, salt water intrusion, cold fronts, sea-level rise, and change in the regional hydrology collectively take their toll on this productive habitat. These forces have transformed the state’s once pristine coastal “trembling prairie” into a tattered, shrinking geomorphic artifact. To put this land loss into perspective, Louisiana loses an area greater than New Orleans (180.6 square miles) every 7.2 years.

Alarmed by the disappearance of these wetlands, many concerned citizens now believe that unless corrective measures are initiated soon, the damage to the coastline’s fragile ecosystems will be irreversible. Further, wind and waves are causing the state’s barrier islands to move landward at rates up to 65 feet per year. Between 1900 and 2000, some islands lost nearly half of their surface area; others are completely gone. The region is losing more than a productive estuarine/wetland habitat; the citizens are losing a natural buffer against the full force of a hurricane-induced storm surge. Katrina, for example, generated a surge that approached 30 feet, which is about the height of a three-story building.

Louisiana’s scientific community has diligently investigated and reported the state’s escalating coastal land-loss problem for more than a half-century; yet, coastal erosion has been an urgent political topic only since the first decade of the 21st century. Prior to that time, most policy-makers simply ignored the problem or denied that it even existed. Amazingly, those most affected, the residents of local sea-level communities, simply did not—and, according to a recent Yale University study, still do not—believe their land is washing away. Through their willful blindness, the deniers also generally ignore the impact of increasingly severe natural and manmade catastrophes that repeatedly pummel their environmentally beleaguered homeland: Hurricanes Isadore (2002), Lili (2002), Cindy (2005), Katrina (2005), Rita (2005), Gustav (2008), Ike (2008), Isaac (2012), Harvey (2017), the Macondo/Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010), the Mississippi River’s “high water” episodes of 2008, 2011, and 2016, and repeated “100-year” rain events, which, in 2016 alone, damaged approximately 146,000 homes in the Louisiana coastal plain.

The once-pervasive notion that Louisiana’s wetlands were too big to fail was — and remains — a widespread misconception. Unfortunately, the ecosystems obscured the darkening reality until an accident of history changed this belief. In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson wanted to know if it were possible to divert Mississippi River water to West Texas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued LSU a feasibility study contract. After investigatory analysis, the research team, under the direction of Dr. Sherwood Gagliano, discovered the Pelican State was losing about 17 square miles of land a year – a number that has fluctuated through time, rising, according to one estimate, to 35 square miles. As a result, the science was clear; diverting the Mississippi would exacerbate the erosion problem dramatically, and the river was not diverted.

Once completed and carefully peer-reviewed, this groundbreaking study was put on a shelf, where it remained largely ignored until later research proved its prescient significance. Beginning in the 1970s and accelerating after 2000, dramatic improvements in computer-aided cartography, GIS, repetitive satellite imagery, photo interpretation and surveying technology, three-dimension models and computer simulations provides better, more accurate measurements of land loss. The 1970 LSU research findings were further reinforced by Dr. Karen Wicker’s 1980 study Environmental Characterization of Terrebonne Parish: 1955-1978, which was one of the first comprehensive land loss assessments of individual coastal parishes. That study morphed into the Atlas of Shoreline Changes in Louisiana from 1853 to 1989, which, in conjunction with a burgeoning number of applied research endeavors, more thoroughly documented Louisiana’s coastal lowlands issues that increasingly endangered the lives and livelihoods of residents supported by wetland resources.

Louisiana has emerged as the national poster child for the dangers environmental changes pose to vulnerable coastal communities. The state’s collective responses to these unprecedented challenges should consequently serve as a national template for addressing environmental Armageddon. The nation must also come to terms with the wetland loss crisis, which until recently was not recognized as a national priority. Recognition at all levels of government was a slow process. In 1990, Louisiana legislators convinced Congress to enact the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (popularly known at the Breaux Act), which allowed federal funding to go toward wetland protection. Thirty-five years after the initial 1970 study – Louisiana restructured the State’s Wetland Conservation and Restoration Authority to form the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), the central hub to articulate and development a comprehensive coastal protection plan for Louisiana.

This early momentum continued into the early 21st century, as scientific publications, gray literature, and non-governmental organizations’ outreach efforts have sustained public interest in and concern about continuing land loss. Congress has also approved coastal restoration funds derived from offshore oil and gas revenue produced in the outer continental shelf to help restore and protect the coastal wetlands. A number of bills and measures have been passed and the state in 2009 was entitled to nearly $500 million, a five-fold increase from the $50 million allocated in the early part of the 21st century. Since then, the State Master Plan, and others studies have projected the price tag for rehabilitating the state’s disappearing wetlands from $50 billion to $100 billion. Money is starting to move through the legislative process and projects are moving from the design stage to implementation. This is good news, because the coast continues to disappear and the region’s citizens are increasingly at risk.

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0023

— Donald W. Davis, Louisiana State University

 

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Commemorating the Enslaved Along Louisiana’s River Road

Members of the NSF research team visit the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsonville, Louisiana in June of 2013. (Photo by Amy Potter)

Between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, lies the remnants of antebellum sugar plantations along Louisiana’s famed River Road, named for the Mississippi River that snakes its way through southern Louisiana before spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century plantation homes that still exist along this road have been preserved, and some have been transformed into museums dedicated to retelling Louisiana’s antebellum period. A few of these museums attract as many as 200,000 visitors a year (Oak Alley and Laura, A Creole Plantation, for example). Most of these plantation house museums, however, have traditionally focused their narrative presentations on the planter and his family, which necessitates that tours be spatially arranged in and around the planter’s home (The Big House).

Such narratives have traditionally marginalized, segregated, or even omitted stories of the enslaved persons whose labors made these landscapes and vast fortunes possible (Eichstedt and Small 2002). Instead of focusing on the people who toiled and effectively created these landscapes, visitors to these sites are regaled with stories of romance, wealth, scandal, and entrepreneurship, and are enchanted by elaborately costumed guides and Oak tree-lined boulevards. Narratives and artifacts tend to limit visitors’ engagement with the enslaved to the hyperlocal and the safely distant past. While their traces are to be found throughout the house and across the landscape, the onus is on visitors to seek them out.

Louisiana’s Highway 18 near Whitney Plantation in summer of 2017. Mississippi River levee on the left and sugar cane on the right. (Photo by Amy Potter)

Disturbed by the absence of the enslaved from these museums’ tour narratives, a team of geographers (Derek H. Alderman, Candace Forbes Bright, David L. Butler, Perry L. Carter, Stephen P. Hanna, E. Arnold Modlin, and Amy E. Potter) received a three-year National Science Foundation grant in 2014 to research how plantations in the South present enslavement. The grant allowed the team to continue their work on plantations in the River Road region (Alderman, Butler, and Hanna 2016), as well as expand this work into Charleston, South Carolina and the James River region of Virginia in order to gain an understanding of regional variations among plantation museum landscapes and narratives. Over a decade of research by some members of our team (Butler 2001; Modlin 2011) allows us to reflect on the transformation of the River Road region alongside other plantations in the South as they struggle to engage with the legacy of slavery.

Allées Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, dedicated to the memory of enslaved persons in Louisiana. (Photo by Amy Potter)

The gross neglect of the stories of the enslaved within the region has been challenged through the development of counter narrative sites. One of these early sites in the region is the River Road African American Museum located today in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. The museum, opened in 1994, is the creation of Kathe Hambrick. Kathe, a native of Louisiana, returned from time away in California and toured plantation museums along the Mississippi River in the early nineties. She was concerned with the romanticizing of plantation life and found the narratives of the enslaved omitted from plantation museums’ presentations. Upon realizing this omission Kathe determined she wanted to do something to change that. The River Road African Museum site notes that “she vowed to her herself – We must do something to tell our story…’ Later on, one night, it just came to Hambrick that the answer was a museum.” (River Road African American Museum 2017)

More recently, the region has experienced another monumental shift in its interpretation of slavery with the 2014 opening of Whitney Plantation, financed by New Orleans attorney John Cummings. Whitney Plantation in many ways is the antithesis of the traditional plantation tourist experience. Rather than center a tour on the house and the planter family, Whitney foregrounds the voices of the enslaved. The tour is an inversion of the spatial narrative with much less emphasis on the Big House.

Children of Whitney located on a front porch of one of the original slave cabins on the property. (Photo by Amy Potter)

Our research team partnered with Whitney in the spring of 2015 as part of our larger project. Several of us have returned since its inaugural year to observe the changes taking place over the site.

In an effort to create a plantation tour that prioritizes the stories and voices of enslaved persons, Whitney utilizes resources like the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration Slave Narrative Collection (1936 to 1938). While the oral histories captured by the mostly white WPA interviewers are problematic (Carter, Butler, and Dwyer 2011), Whitney’s use of excerpts from these interviews with formerly enslaved persons, most of whom were children before emancipation, gives expression to those who help create this region and this country.

Visitors receive a lanyard connecting them to the story of a formerly enslaved child. (Photo by Amy Potter)

While most plantation tours begin by crediting white owners for “building” the house and grounds, Whitney turns the visitor’s attention to enslaved persons (particularly children) immediately upon entering the welcome center. Visitors receive a lanyard (to keep) featuring the words and image of a formerly enslaved child. One such example is Hannah Kelly, who was 10 years old when she was emancipated. While waiting for the 90-minute tour to start visitors can explore an exhibit on slavery, which situates the visitor within a multi-scale history that eventually connects to River Road.

The Children of Whitney, a series of sculptures created by artist Woodrow Nash in the Antioch Church. (Photo by Amy Potter)

After an introduction, visitors begin their tour of the property – a tour laid out to first honor the enslaved, then to educate visitors about the everyday lives of slaves along the River Road, and, finally to connect Whitney to both the broader historical geography of slavery and the legacies of slavery haunting us today. Guides first invite visitors to enter Antioch Church where they encounter the Children of Whitney, a series of sculptures created by artist Woodrow Nash who was inspired by 19th century photographs of enslaved children. These same children appear on the lanyards visitors wear around their necks – an intentional effort by the museum to encourage visitors to connect emotionally with the enslaved.

The tour continues to the Wall of Honor, where we learn about Anna, one of 354 enslaved persons connected to the property. Anna, we are told, was just four years old when she was bought on the dock of New Orleans in 1814 (her mother died on the journey from the Chesapeake). As she grew older she was raped by her mistress’s brother. She is the black matriarch of the eminent Haydel family of New Orleans (Sybil Morial, a descendant of Anna, is the wife of Ernest Morial, New Orleans’ first African-American mayor, and mother of Marc Morial, who also served as Mayor of New Orleans).

The Field of Angels is dedicated to the children who were enslaved in Louisiana and died before their third birthday. (Photo by Amy Potter)

Other stops along the tour include the Gwendolyn Hall Memorial and the Field of Angels, dedicated to the 2,200 children who were enslaved in Louisiana and died before their third birthday. The tour winds through the rows of slave cabins, two of which are original to the property, eventually making its way to the “Big House.” In contrast to most plantation tours, just a few minutes of the tour are spent inside the house and even here the narrative treats the house as a place of work for enslaved women and children. Visitors then return to the welcome center where they are asked to reflect on the tour and share their thoughts on a wall.

Contemplating the enslaved at Allées Gwendolyn Midlo Hall. (Photo by Raymond Glasgow)

Since the racially motivated mass shooting of worshippers at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina and the violent gathering of neo-Nazis, KKK, and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, the foundations of white supremacist accounts of the antebellum South are shaken as never before. New Orleans led the way in pulling down monuments glorifying Confederate “heroes” and cities and towns throughout the country are grappling with the challenge commemorating slavery and the enslaved poses to our national mythos. Southern plantation museums like those on River Road, landscapes that traditionally reproduced a Gone with the Wind version of Southern domesticity, are in many ways at the heart of this struggle.

 

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0019

References
Alderman, D., Butler, D. L., and Hanna, S.P. 2016. Memory, slavery, and plantation museums: the River Road Project. Journal of Heritage Tourism 11 (3): 209-218.

Butler, D. L. 2001. Whitewashing plantations: The commodification of a slave-free Antebellum South. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration 2 (3-4): 163-175.

Carter, P. L., Butler, D. L, and Dwyer, O. (2011). Defetishizing the plantation: African Americans in the memorialized South. Historical Geography 39: 128-146.

Eichstedt, J., and Small, S. 2002. Representations of slavery: Race and ideology in southern plantation museums. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Modlin, E. A. 2011. Representing slavery at plantation-house museums in the U.S. South: A dynamic spatial process. Historical Geography 39: 147-173.

River Road African American Museum. 2017. https://africanamericanmuseum.org/

 

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Amy E Potter
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Annual Meeting

Dining with Cajuns and Creoles

The foods of New Orleans are an expression of south Louisiana’s history, culture, and wetlands. Influences upon the area’s traditional cuisine are much like using recipes gathered at a crossroads of European, Caribbean, and Acadian culinary customs at interplay with local ideas and available ingredients. Understanding menus means knowing terms like — roux, remoulade, and bisque. Trying to suggest where to eat to visitors is as challenging as trying to suggest what to eat, just too much diversity. But understanding the culture and tastes behind the foods is a great way to start.

Credit: David Beriss, Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition

The distinction between Cajun and Creole foods can be confusing, overlapping, and misleading. Both are descended from European ancestry, yet the outcome on the plate may be less than distinct. Creoles trace to European aristocrats encouraged by the Spanish to establish New Orleans in the late 17th century. French, German, and Italian settlers also arrived and with them came terminologies, precepts, sauces, and cooking traditions. From the Provence of France came bouillabaisse (a local soup), a dish reflected in the creation of gumbo; the Spanish paella was the forefather of Louisiana’s jambalaya (right) and dirty rice, Germans brought knowledge of charcuterie (charring meat) and established boucheries (butcher shops) which are the base for locally produced sausage used to flavor many traditional dishes. Italian arrivals brought Mediterranean spices and pastries, from the West Indies came piquant flavorings, slow cooking techniques, and exotic vegetables. Local Choctaw and Houmas Indians introduced corn dishes, filé powder from sassafras leaves, and bay leaves from the local laurel tree. Europeans arriving in the 17th and 18th centuries were coming with dietary baggage reflecting their own epicurean genealogy. New Orleans housewives, cooks, and chefs became increasingly frustrated with not being able to acquire their traditional ingredients, thus ingenuity and resourcefulness brought unique people and diverse cultures who were willing to share their cooking styles and experiment with local ingredients.

The evolution of Cajun food is tied to the diffusion of Acadians from southeast Canada. Their refugee history in rural south Louisiana gave rise to the use of wild game, seafood, and local products from the swamps, bayous, and woods. What emerged were boiled crawfish, soups, gumbos, jambalaya, turtle sauce piquante and stuffed vegetable dishes, often just a “one-pot meal.” Spices became the stock ingredient to gumbos and sausages; and onions, celery and bell pepper became the “Holy Trinity” of Cajun cuisine. Cooking brought fellowship and social bonding among the Catholic immigrants. Around the household kitchen these days, men and women are equally talented cooks. A sampling of truly NOLA cuisine tends to show the infusion of Creole and Cajun and how two rich cultures lie at the base of every New Orleans menu.

Flavorings.  Nothing in a recipe can bring more debate than spices and yet there is no debate that it is spices that make the tastes of New Orleans an international cooking tradition. Chopped seasonings such as the Holy Trinity are at the beginning of many dishes, but perhaps the most known spice is Tabasco, a global term for hot sauce. Tabasco brand hot sauce is produced from Mexican peppers grown on Avery Island in south Louisiana. Avery Island is a geological salt dome rising above the coastal wetlands and has been the home of the McIlhenny family since the mid-1800s. Originally the peppers for McIlhenny’s hot sauce were grown on the island, but today the local peppers are used for seed stock and the peppers are grown from outside the United States. The sauce is still made on Avery Island. For many Louisianan’s, the meal is not set until the Tabasco is on the table. Another popular condiment locally produced is remoulade sauce. It reflects French-African Creole influence and is mayonnaise-based with green onions, celery, parsley, cayenne pepper, and paprika.

The Stock Pot. The tradition of one-pot meals prepared in a stock base is best enjoyed as a gumbo or etouffee or crawfish bisque. Every cook prides their roux, which is the base from which the liquid stock evolves. Rouxs are passed down through generations and can determine the outcome of the dish before any ingredients are ever added. The roux is a mix of oil or bacon fat (Cajuns may swear by butter instead which presents a blonde roux), with flour and cooked to a desired brownness. Gumbos are commonly seafood based with shrimp, crab meat, and oysters. Filé is added along with the Holy Trinity and okra. Chicken with pork sausage or andouille is another popular gumbo. Andouille originated in France and is claimed to have arrived with Cajun culture. Its popularity has seen generations of regional influence, especially from German immigrants along the German Coast of the lower Mississippi River. It is a smoked sausage using pork, garlic, pepper, onions, and seasonings encased in an intestinal sleeve.

Etouffee, from the French meaning to smother, is a dish cooked in a roux base with the lid on and again heavily spiced with onions, garlic, and peppers. As a testament to the continued evolution of new dishes in the south Louisiana tradition, it is said that etouffee originated in the 1950s among Cajuns along the Atchafalaya River and made its way to being one of the most popular dishes in New Orleans after it was added to the menu at Galatoire’s restaurant on Bourbon Street. Crawfish bisque is normally made in May or June, towards the end of the crawfish season. It is labor intensive and usually brings an entire family together to help prepare the dish. Preparation requires large quantities of peeled crawfish trails and the crawfish’s head (carapace) into which the ground tail meat is blended with seasonings and bread and then stuffed back into the crawfish head. It is served with a roux and rice. You will find dishes from the stock pot commonly served with rice and south Louisianian’s know that if it is Monday, it is red beans and rice. Among the Cajun and Creole households, Sunday’s meal would likely include a main dish of pork served with bone-in. Monday’s were wash days, thus cooking a pot of red beans with leftover pork bones and local sausage made for a one pot meal that simmered all day while attending to the wash. The tradition of red beans and rice continues and many small restaurants will only prepare and serve the dish on Mondays.

Credit: Alex, Flickr

From the Wetlands and Gulf. South Louisiana is America’s largest coastal wetland. Brackish and freshwater lowlands extend along the state’s entire southern interface with the nutrient rich near shore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Atchafalaya River basin extends the freshwater wetlands northward. South Louisiana is rich in inshore fish, oysters, shrimp, blue crab (left), water fowl of many kinds, and alligators. It’s no wonder the state is called “Sportsman’s Paradise.” Cajun cooking uses all of these wild food sources, including alligator tail. Spring is crawfish season and the smell of backyard crawfish boils (right) emerges from every neighborhood. Our time in New Orleans will be at the peak of the season. Boiled crawfish are served by the pound and traditionally boiled in a blend of ginger, oregano, celery, cayenne, mustard seeds, peppercorns, bay leaves, and pickling spices along with whole potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, and sometimes slices of pork sausage are added to the pot. The aroma of a crawfish boil is intoxicating.

Fresh fish in south Louisiana means fresh that day! Eating the catch of the day provides diners with the opportunity to experience some of the more popular gulf catches prepared using about every Creole and Cajun touch imaginable. Gulf shrimp and blue crabs are the stock of many gumbos, seafood boils, fried platters, Poboys, etoufees, and rice dishes. Creole chefs have made these crustaceans a part of an endless variety of dishes. Restaurants across the city pride themselves in extending the diversity of preparing seafood. In many areas of south Louisiana, fried alligator tail is served on local menus. Its popularity has grown to where some fried chicken fast food eateries occasionally add it to their menu.

New Orleans has made oysters on the half-shell a crafted specialty. Either served raw or typically prepared with parsley, butter, Parmesan, and assorted herbs and then grilled or broiled. The uniqueness of the dish comes from the variations in preparation. Oysters Rockefeller was created in 1899 at Antoine’s and named after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American at the time; and Oysters Bienville, commonly thought to have originated at Arnaud’s, is now served at select restaurants. Oysters and other foods from the wetlands are what New Orleans cuisine is known for – the blend of Cajun’s dependence upon local food sources with Creole culinary preparation.

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It’s not just a sandwich. The New Orleans PoBoy (right) is not a sub, its not a grinder or hoagie, and its not just a sandwich, it is a PoBoy. Beyond the grand restaurants of New Orleans, a more common and popular meal is the PoBoy, a meat sandwich served on French bread. PoBoys can be fried shrimp or oysters (corn meal batter), sausage, or a variety of fillings, but the best may be a chopped roast beef PoBoy served sloppy with gravy. The more napkins the better the quality. They can be served ‘dressed’ or not; dressed refers to with lettuce, tomato, and pickle. The term dressed seems to be limited to south Louisiana and it is always used when ordering a burger or PoBoy. Not all French breads make a good PoBoy. Leidenheimer Bakery (of direct German descent, founded in 1896) is hands down the most popular and each morning the skilled eye can spot hundreds of freshly baked loaves outside the delivery doors of restaurants serving traditional PoBoys. The history of the name PoBoy has about as many versions as there are types of PoBoys, but it is not disputed that fried oyster sandwiches on French loaves dates to the late 1800s.

CentralGrocery.com

The muffuletta, another NOLA original, was first crafted at Central Grocery (left) on Decatur Street and theirs remains the most popular in town. Muffulettas are large round loaves stuffed with Italian ham and salami, a variety of cheeses, olive salad, lots of garlic, and then spiced. Leidenheimer Bakery produces a loaf many restaurants prefer. To have a traditional New Orleans “sandwich” is to enjoy the fusion of French, German, and Italian immigrants making foods for the working class of the 1800s.

Credit: Smithsonian.com, Andrew Wong, Flickr

Caffeine and Cocktails. Dining is a major economy for south Louisiana and in New Orleans the top spot goes to the Café du Monde (Cafe of the World) in the heart of the French Quarter. Their fare is simple, but the lines are long. It is a landmark destination known for its café au lait (coffee and chicory with cream) and beignets (right). The French brought coffee with them as they settled the coast and in New Orleans, the Creoles added chicory (as there was often a shortage of coffee beans). Ground chicory root adds a chocolate-like flavor to coffee and had been used in 19th century European coffee houses. Adding cream became a way to soften the bitter taste. Beignets (a fried pastry) were part of Cajun cuisine carried from Europe to Acadia to South Louisiana. They are fried dough served hot and with powdered sugar on top. Coffee and beignets became a common breakfast food for all classes in New Orleans and today its popularity is impressive — a tourist trip to New Orleans is considered not complete without a stop at the Café du Monde (below left) for these sugary sweets.

Credit: New Orleans.com, The Official New Orleans Travel Site

The local cocktail menu reflects creations unique to the city. Dixie beer, founded in 1907 has remained a local brew although the craft beer scene is thriving in NOLA. The rum-based Hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s and the Hand Grenade at The Tropical Isle are iconic French Quarter drinks and frozen daiquiris are sold along the sidewalks. But it is a Sazerac that the Louisiana Legislature proclaims as the official cocktail of New Orleans. The drink was created in the mid-1800s by Antoine Amedee Peychaud, a creole immigrant, who in his Vieux Carré pharmacy produced a Peychaud’s Bitters which is one ingredient in a Sazerac. Other ingredients include rye (locally Sazerac brand) and absinthe. There is some claim it is the oldest known American cocktail; regardless, the Sazerac Bar in the historic Roosevelt Hotel is a legendary landmark in New Orleans and there are cocktail tours to historic bars of the Vieux Carré, all of whom view their Sazerac as the city’s best.

Deserts and Sugary Snacks. Sugarcane dominates the lowland agricultural landscape of south Louisiana. It is a perfect crop for the area’s hot, rainy climate and muddy fields. Cane sugar became a common confection and cooking with sugar has led to Cajuns and Creoles finding ways to sweeten their already rich diet. A local classic is Bananas Foster, a desert made from bananas, vanilla ice cream, and a sauce made from brown sugar, dark rum, and cinnamon. It was created in 1951 by the chef at Brennan’s (French Quarter) Restaurant who saw hundreds of bananas left to rot around the United Fruit Company docks on the river. Banana trade from Central America to New Orleans once had a prosperous connection; the spilled fruit was there for the taking.

Credit: WordPress.com

New Orleans also claims the sno-ball as its own. The shaved ice snack is served with a flavored cane syrup. Originally the sno-ball was made from scraping course ice from large blocks, but in 1934 Ernest Hansen developed an ice-shaving machine that produces a very fine ice and their family operated Hansen’s Sno-Bliz is still operating on Tchoupitoulas Street. Get there early as the lines can be long; their most popular sno-ball is their seasonal bananas foster! New Orleans has made the Praline a signature confection, although it is an Old World French candy. They are crafted from melting cane sugar with butter, cream, and pecans. The Mardi-Gras King Cake (right) is associated with the Epiphany and Catholic pre-Lenten celebrations. In the week leading up to Lent, King Cakes abound in bakeries and grocery stores. Typically they are decorated to reflect the themes and colors of Mardi-Gras. Inside the cake is often a small plastic baby representing Baby Jesus. Whomever gets the slice with the baby has various privileges and obligations. Many offices will have a King Cake every day of the week prior to Mardi-Gras and whomever gets the Jesus has to bring the next day’s cake. New Orleans recently renamed its Triple A baseball team from the Pelicans to the New Orleans Baby Cakes. Such is the recognition of Catholicism and celebratory cakes upon local culture.

Understanding how Louisianans eat, is understanding that the ancestry of the foods south Louisiana calls home is a result of culture tied to wetlands. The futures of both are endangered by south Louisiana losing about 16 square miles of coast each year. Subsidence and erosion account for the majority of the loss. The explanations behind both are tied to oil and gas extraction, attempts to control the Mississippi River, and building New Orleans in a most unnatural location. Contributors also include sea-level rise and the frequency of Hurricane landfalls, which erode away the shallow coastal edge. The threats to Louisiana have been measured and the losses mapped; the unintended consequence may also be the impact upon its food culture and traditions. Cajun ancestry is threatened by land loss as some of their communities have already been abandoned. Storms push others to seek new residence away from their lowland homelands. The loss of wetlands also means the loss of locally produced seafood.

A bucket-list for New Orleans always includes sampling great foods and historic restaurants. Whether morning, noon, or night — there is a food tradition that should serve every craving; the city is known for its bon appétit.

Clifton “Skeeter” Dixon is a professor of geography at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is a native to south Louisiana where he still resides for part of the year. Growing up, his family and community held a tradition of cooking and enjoying Creole and Cajun foods and thinks a backyard crawfish boil should be on everyone’s bucket list. Currently he is the past president of the Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers.

DOI:10.14433/2017.0018

 

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Clifton Skeeter Dixon
Clifton Skeeter Dixon
Annual Meeting

2018 AAG Annual Meeting Presidential Plenary Announced

The AAG announces the 2018 annual presidential plenary session from its current president, Derek Alderman, as well as a panel of esteemed scholars. The presidential plenary is currently slated to take place during the 2018 AAG annual meeting on Tuesday, April 10, 2018 in the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel from 6:30 -8:30 p.m.

Alderman will present When the Big Easy Isn’t So Easy: Learning from New Orleans’ Geographies of Struggle. Beyond merely providing hotels, restaurants, and bars, the hosting cities of AAG meetings offer important moments to delve into the scientific value of these locations and to learn about the historical and contemporary forces and tensions that shape their communities and spaces. Doing so not only advances our intellectual understanding of place but also has the potential to create a more responsible and empathetic visitor and academic conference citizen—someone who can appreciate, analyze, and be affected by the people and places that exist beyond tourism brochures found in hotel lobbies.

When the Big Easy Isn’t So Easy creates a space to explore the role of struggle in the making, unmaking, and remaking of New Orleans. The city’s development has long been a power-laden process in which multiple identities, histories, and social interests converge, mix, but also clash. A wide range of racial, ethnic, class, and environmental struggles have shaped New Orleans in complex ways, making it a site of vulnerability, inequality, and displacement and at the same time a place of resourcefulness, creative surviving and living, and social justice activism.

Panelists, all of whom are civically engaged scholars and gifted geographic storytellers, will highlight not only the (Post) Katrina experience but also the deeper historical and geographic roots of struggle in New Orleans. They will take the audience to evocative spaces and moments, using the opening session to open broader discussions of issues such as black lives and geographies, disaster response and recovery, food justice, water-society relations, the politics of public memory, and urban political economy. Panelists will reflect on the larger academic-political lessons from New Orleans, offer ideas for (re)imagining the future of this city and others, and demonstrate how geographers can learn from and with the host cities for our AAG meetings.

Register now.

In addition to President Alderman, panelists will include:

Laura Pulido, University of Oregon. Noted black geographies scholar and editor of recently released edited book on New Orleans.

Craig Colten, LSU. One of the perennial experts on NOLA and Louisiana history of human-environment/water-society relations.

Richard Campanella, Tulane University. Author of AAG’s ongoing features on NOLA and widely published local expert.

Michael Crutcher, Jr, Independent Scholar. Long-time expert on NOLA and author of book on Treme neighborhood.

Catarina Passidomo, University of Mississippi. Emerging scholar in southern studies, food geography/justice, and wrote dissertation on post-Katrina NOLA.

Rebecca Sheehan, Oklahoma State University. Has worked extensively as of late on the controversial removal of Confederate monuments from NOLA.

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A Glance at New Orleans’ Contemporary Hispanic and Latino Communities

Las Acacias, a Latino market located in the revitalized Freret Street District in Uptown. Photo credit: James Chaney

Situated near the mouth of North America’s largest river, New Orleans has long served as a major port that advantageously connects the United States’ heartland to the rest of the world. Proximity and access to the Gulf of Mexico strategically place the Crescent City between the large consumption economy of the United States and the extraction economies of Latin America, which have historically been key purveyors of raw materials and commodities to the markets of their northern neighbor. Also, New Orleans served as a jumping off point for numerous military expeditions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that altered the political landscape of Latin American countries. Yet, even before becoming an “American” city, New Orleans was governed by the Spanish via Cuba (1762―1803). These economic, political, and historical linkages to Latin America and beyond have facilitated the transnational flows of people, products, and cultures over the course of four centuries and have cultivated the unique multinational ethnic kinship the port city holds today with Latin America and Spain [1]. Evidence abounds of these Hispanic and Latino ties in the cultural landscape, especially in one of the Big Easy’s most notable cultural productions: music [2]. Similarly, visitors with a keen eye will be able to discern the Latin American imprint woven into the urban fabric stretching from the French Quarter to the western suburb of Kenner and the riverbanks of St. Bernard Parish [3].

A taco truck on Claiborne Avenue near The Home Depot still serves Latino laborers more than a decade after Hurricane Katrina. Photo credit: James Chaney

Contemporary Latino migration and settlement in the southern United States have received considerable scholarly attention―particularly from geographers―over the past three decades. The “Nuevo South” moniker was coined to describe this supposedly new migratory phenomenon taking place. However, before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans was often left out of discussions on southern destinations for Latinos, even though it was home to one of the oldest and most diverse Latino populations in the country. Perhaps the lack of attention was because the metropolitan area’s Latino population was relatively stable and mostly integrated. Of the 58,545 Latinos enumerated in Census 2000, four out of five were U.S citizens, more than half were born in the United States, and Latino household incomes were only slightly below the region’s average [4]. Therefore, New Orleans’ Latinos didn’t fit the narrative of a “New Latino South” so often applied to describe emerging Latino communities made up of and sustained by recent immigrants looking for new opportunities. But, in the wake of Katrina, New Orleans gained national attention seemingly overnight as Latino immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and as far away as Brazil and Peru flocked to southeast Louisiana to participate in the reconstruction efforts. Many arriving laborers were undocumented, taking advantage of the temporary suspension of federal and state enforcement of employment eligibility verification. While a study conducted by scholars from Tulane and Berkeley estimated that 14,000 Latinos laborers arrived within the first few months after the storm, local community leaders, social workers, and others engaged in the reconstruction efforts suggested much higher figures. In any case, this demographic phenomenon caught the attention of local officials, denizens, and national media. A Newsweek article posed the question, “Will Latino day laborers locating in New Orleans change its complexion?” [5]. Then-mayor Ray Nagin infamously asked himself in front of a town hall audience, “How do I ensure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexican workers?”. Indeed, Latinos became a prominent fixture in the metropolitan area in the years following Katrina. As laborers gutted and rebuilt flooded homes, taco trucks appeared throughout the city, and new tiendas, taquerías, pupuserías and Latino-themed night clubs opened across Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Likewise, numerous Latino-focused nonprofits and religious organizations launched legal and language services designed to help arriving Latino immigrants settle and integrate into southeast Louisiana.

New Orleans certainly emerged more Latino than before the storm. Census 2010 counted 91,922 Latinos in the seven-parish metropolitan statistical area―an increase of 57 percent since 2000. But, as reconstruction effort came to an end, the surge of Latino workers that arrived after Hurricane Katrina appears to have receded. According to the Mexican consulate―which reopened in New Orleans in 2008 amid a new demand for administration and diplomatic functions for Mexican nationals in Louisiana and Mississippi―consulate employees were handling 80 to 100 appointments a day in the first years after the storm. Lines regularly formed outside the consulate’s location in the central business district, as Mexican immigrants waited to renew passports or matriculas, or to access other services. A decade later, however, appointments average between ten and fifteen daily which has led the consulate to scale back its number of employees. As demand for construction workers declined, some Latino laborers moved elsewhere within Louisiana such as Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and Alexandria while others relocated to states like Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida and still others returned to their countries of origin.

Taquería Chilangos Restaurant shares a small shopping center with Las Carnitas Restaurant which specializes in Central American and Peruvian food. Photo credit: James Chaney

Although the initial intensity of post-Katrina Latino migration may have subsided, it certainly reinvigorated existing Latin American communities. This is most evident in the metropolitan area’s four core parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemine which are home to 76,129 Latinos as identified by Census 2010. The settlement and integration of post-Katrina Latinos have put new emphasis on Latin American culture, which has led to new restaurants, stores, festivals, and radio programs that cater to an established ethnic community. Yet, many of the new Latino establishments have found success serving a larger non-Latino clientele. For example, David Montes de Oca, a Mexico City native, came to New Orleans via Houston with a taco trailer in tow. His first patrons were day laborers living and working in suburban Jefferson Parish. Yet in 2007, Jefferson Parish officials began passing measures to restrict street venders. Montes de Oca responded by opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant called Taquería Chilangos in a shopping center home to other Latino-owned businesses in the 2700 block of Roosevelt Boulevard in Kenner. Taquería Chilangos built a strong customer base by serving typical Mexican fare and earning a reputation for the best authentic tacos in New Orleans. Another example is Norma’s Sweets Bakery at 2925 Bienville Street in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood which opened following Katrina to serve the growing number of Latino residents in the area. The bakery’s menu includes a variety of Latin American pastries and lunch options, but Norma’s Sweets becomes a favorite destination for non-Latino customers during Carnival season for its Cuban-style king cake filled with cream cheese and guava paste.

The Hispanic and Latino Population of New Orleans as a proportion of the total population of each census tract 2010. Map credit: Case Watkins

Perhaps one of the more interesting facets of New Orleans’ post-Katrina Latino geographies is the resurgence of Honduran population. New Orleans and Honduras share a long history starting with the once-ripe banana trade. The port city also served as a gateway for Honduran immigration. By the mid-twentieth century, Honduran immigrants residing in the Lower Garden District’s Irish channel neighborhood reached a critical mass, and, within the Latino community, the area became known as the Barrio Lempira (named after Honduras’ currency). By the 1960s and 1970s, upwardly mobile Hondurans were moving to the Mid-City neighborhood and by the 1980s and 1990s many relocated to suburban communities of North Kenner and Metairie in Jefferson Parish. Although the mid-century decennial censuses did not disaggregate persons of Honduran origin, Hondurans were considered the prominent Latin American nationality in the metropolitan area―so much so that erroneous claims of mythic proportions stating that 100,000 Hondurans lived in New Orleans or that New Orleans was home to largest the Honduran community in the United States, became commonplace. Of course, later censuses that enumerated Hondurans proved these assertions false. Census 2000 counted only 8,112 Hondurans in the metropolitan area, more than two-thirds of which were found in Jefferson Parish. In fact, the metropolitan area’s Mexican population had grown larger, numbering 10,202. But following Katrina the number of Hondurans soared. By 2010, Hondurans could accurately claim to be the largest Latin American nationality with a census count of more than 25,000—around 4,000 more than the enumerated 20,729 persons claiming Mexican origin at that time. Although visible residential and small business clusters are found in Jefferson Parish, which is now home to three-quarters of the area’s Honduran population, many newcomers settled in other sectors of the metropolitan area, even venturing into eastern New Orleans neighborhoods like Village de L’Est home to the city’s Vietnamese community and extending as far as St. Bernard Parish. (Figure 5)

Latino Businesses and Services in the William Boulevard, North Kenner. Map credit: Andrew Sluyter

Today New Orleans’ Honduran identity and sense of place manifest themselves in various ways. St. Teresa de Avila Catholic Church on Erato Street, which served the Hondurans and other Latin Americans Catholics who lived in the Barrio Lempira, features a statue of Our Lady of Suyapa, the patron saint of Honduras. The church hosts an annual festival in her honor on February 3rd celebrating the virgin as does the Immaculate Conception Church in Marrero on the West Bank where children perform national dances in traditional dress. More frequently, Hondurans gather each weekend in public parks, most notably City Park in Mid-City, to play soccer. For those looking for authentic Honduran cuisine, numerous restaurants can be found throughout the metropolitan area; however, Casa Honduras at 5704 Crowder Boulevard in New Orleans East is noteworthy. Not only does Casa Honduras offer typical Honduran dishes, it serves traditional Garifuna food and drink such as sopa de caracol con coco (coconut curry conch soup) and gifiti (a drink made with rum, herbs, and spices). Casa Honduras has become a de facto cultural center for New Orleans’ Garifuna community and periodically hosts Garifuna musical performers and events [6]. For visitors interested in Afro-indigenous culture from Central America, a meal at Casa Honduras is worth the trip.

Despite Hondurans being the largest Latino group in the metropolitan area, they account for only a little more than a quarter of the total contemporary Hispanic and Latino population. New Orleans has long been home to an assorted Latin American population. Through commerce, social networks, and geopolitics, or due to natural disasters, different groups have arrived to make the city their home, beginning with Los Isleños who first settled in the area in 1778. Indeed, most groups are less conspicuous when compared to the Hondurans and Mexicans, yet they have all contributed the creation of a distinctive pan-Latino identity in the city. While some national-origin groups populations have waxed and waned through the years, others have continued to grow. Between 1980 and 2010, the number of Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans doubled, and the number of Cubans has slightly increased to 6,440 since 2000. Brazilian immigration to New Orleans began with the coffee trade in nineteenth century. The number of Brazilians in the city, however, was small until post-Katrina reconstruction efforts attracted thousands of Brazilians from other U.S. cities like Boston and Atlanta as well as Brazil. The surge was brief, and many Brazilians left within the first few years following the storm. Nevertheless, those who stayed have established a Brazilian community anchored in Kenner and Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish. A notable establishment for those seeking authentic Brazilian fare such as Feijoada is the Brazilian Market and Café at 2424 Williams Boulevard in Kenner.

While each national-origin group seeks to maintain its own traditions and character, a pan-ethnic identity has emerged to unify those of Hispanic and Latino heritage. Media outlets such as Jambalaya News, Radio Tropical Caliente, and LatiNola.com provide news and entertainment programming in Spanish and work to connect local Latinos with the larger New Orleans community. The Hispanic Heritage Center sponsors Latin American-themed cultural activities and artists in the region and provides scholarships to promising Hispanic high school students. Other annual Latino festivals like Que Pasa Fest, Kenner’s Hispanic Summer Fest, and Carnival Latino attract large numbers of both Latino and non-Latino visitors. Finally, nonprofit and religious organizations like Puentes, Congreso de Jornaleros, and the Archdiocese of New Orleans Hispanic Apostolate advocate on behalf of Latino immigrants (particularly undocumented) and, in turn, help to foster a stronger sense of a pan-Latino community. Thus, as the composite and size of New Orleans’ Hispanic and Latino community will undoubtedly continue to fluctuate, it will remain a significant and dynamic component of New Orleans’ society and unique culture.

— James Chaney, Middle Tennessee State University

DOI:10.14433/2017.0016

[1]. “Hispanic” designates an individual or group of Spanish-language heritage. “Latino” identifies an individuals or groups from Latin America of Spanish- or Portuguese-language origin. For a more detailed analysis of New Orleans’ Hispanic and Latino populations and heritage see Hispanic and Latino New Orleans: Immigration and Identity since the Eighteenth Century. (2015) Andrew Sluyter, Case Watkins, James P. Chaney, and Annie Gibson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press

[2]. See Case Watkins’ two-part essay Essential Geographies of New Orleans Music in the September 2017 AAG Newsletter for an overview of the evolution of New Orleans’ music culture. DOI: 10.14433/2017.0013

[3]. For a little help finding and understanding New Orleans’ Hispanic and Latino landscapes see Andrew Sluyter’s article in the August 2017 AAG Newsletter. DOI:10.14433/2017.0011

[4]. Anita I. Drever (2008): New Orleans: a re-emerging Latino destination city, Journal of Cultural Geography, 25(3): 287-303. DOI:10.1080/08873630802452632

[5]. Arian Campo-Flores (2005) A New Spice in the Gumbo: Will Latino Day Laborers Locating in New Orleans Change its Complexion? Newsweek. 147(23): 46.

[6]. The Garifuna (or more correctly the Garínagu) are mixed-race descendants of African, Island Carib, European, and Arawak peoples who are found mainly in Honduras, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, the island of St. Vincent and, since the twentieth century, the United States. For more information about New Orleans’ Garifuna community see James Chaney (2012) Malleable Identities: Placing the Garínagu in New Orleans. Journal of Latin American Geography 11(2): 121-144. DOI:10.1353/lag.2012.0049

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Annual Meeting

AAG Announces 2018 Annual Meeting Themes

The AAG is pleased to announce three themes for the 2018 Annual Meeting to be held in New Orleans from April 10-14. Each year, the AAG Council and Executive Director identify theme areas of geography for the annual meeting in order to provide a fresh take on some of the more pressing and timely issues facing the discipline. While any topic is accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting, the themes are used to establish a way to focus the breadth and variety of geographic scholarship the Annual Meeting has to offer.

Contributions to the Black Geographies theme will address the meaningful role of Black communities and individuals as they advance the production of geographic knowledge and space-making practices. Likewise, contributions will encourage the critical reflection on the issues, processes, intrinsic qualities, and interconnections that shape Black lives and geographies on local, national, continental, and international scales.

 

Geographers are uniquely situated to address the myriad challenges presented by hazards due to the interdisciplinary nature of our discipline. The Hazards, Geography, and GIScience theme will approach these issues from multiple perspectives, with the goal of using the research and tools of Geography and GIScience to learn from past events and plan for future hazards.

 

The Public Engagement theme will create and open spaces for demonstrating, debating, and improving how geographers engage public groups through their research, teaching, and other professional practices. This theme seeks paper, panel, and workshop sessions that explore the practical strategies, ethical considerations, and challenges of geographers interacting with a broad array of communities.

 

 

More information about each of these themes will be forthcoming. To submit your abstract or session for consideration as part of one of these three themes, please select the relevant theme name in the “Theme” dropdown in the abstract/session submission console. If you have already submitted your abstract or session, you can log into the console and edit your submission. All submissions to the themes are due by November 8, 2017.

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