Everything In Its Path is very good for examining some nonobvious "social" damages from "natural" disasters. I imagine that many of the social networks in place in New Orleans, Gulf Port, and other Gulf towns before the storm won't survive the rebuilding.
It might also be worth pointing out that while the "cause" of the disaster was nature, human social organization made things worse. The Buffalo Creek disaster occured during Southern West Virgina's annual Spring flood season, but the real damage was wrought by the breaking of a poorly designed and maintained earthern dam meant to hold waste water from the processing of coal. People on Buffalo Creek had survived many, many floods; their community was wiped out by the breaking sludge pond. For Katrina, the "soup bowl" nature of New Orleans created the current problem of massive flooding. A personal note of absolutely no significance -- I grew up about 40 miles from Buffalo Creek and remember hearing the first reports of the disaster on the Logan, WV radio station. One my high school teachers grew up on Buffalo Creek. After the flood, neither he nor his brother could find their house. A WWII Vet, he compared the damage to what he saw in Dresden. I imagine there are a lot of folks on the Gulf Coast with similar feelings tonight. James -----Original Message----- From: "Roberts, Keith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Aug 31, 2005 8:03 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] Subject: TEACHSOC: Re: Ideas for using Katrina? -----Original Message----- I would like to share ideas appropriate for first and second year students for tapping into to the current news on the Gulf coast - I think what I am doing is fairly routine (with culture) but I would like to hear what others are doing. Susan * * * * * * * * In one of my classes I will be doing Kai Erikson's classic study Everything In Its Path--looking at the social consequences of a disaster. That study is of a flood, but applications can be made to other types of disasters. Keith ------ James Cassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
