Remaking New Orleans

Thomas Jessen Adams is Lecturer in History and American Studies, Academic Director of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, and coeditor of Working in the Big Easy: The History and Politics of Labor in New Orleans.Matt Sakakeeny is Associate Professor of Music at Tulane University and author of Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, also published by Duke University Press.

"Offering valuable insights into the history of the city and the oft-repeated musings of what makes New Orleans special or unique, Remaking New Orleans parses tourism, urban redevelopment, and the attendant myths, misconceptions, and impacts." - Andru Okun (Antigravity) "In a crowded field of New Orleans–centered, post-Katrina scholarship, Remaking New Orleans-albeit ironically-is a true standout. ... It would make a fitting text for an upper-year undergraduate seminar or graduate-level course on, for example, cities and neoliberalism." - Gregg Lightfoot (Journal of Southern History) “Adams and Sakakeeny’s Remaking New Orleans represents a remarkable collection of stories…. Topically, the volume enriches our historical geography of the city.”- Eric Nost (Southeastern Geographer) “The editors Thomas Jessen Adams an Matt Sakakeeny and their contributors offer a welcome, convincing, and overdue rebuke of representations of New Orleans as a city lying outside broader contexts.... Remaking New Orleans succeeds in rendering an indictment against seeing this city as exceptional rather than exemplary.” - J. Mark Souther (Journal of American History) “The authors present provocative questions.... This collection will be useful to scholars of urban history, cultural studies, and all those who are fascinated by New Orleans.” - Ella Howard (Journal of American Culture)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction: What Lies beyond Histories of Exceptionalism and Cultures of Authenticity / Thomas Jessen Adams, Sue Mobley, and Mat Sakekeeny  1Part One. Constructing Exceptional New Orleans1. La Catrina: The Mexican Specter of New Orleans / Shannon Lee Dawdy  352. Charles GayarrÉ and the Imagining of an Exceptional City: The Literary Roots of the Creole City / Rien Fertel  553. Phony City: Under the Skin of Authenticity / Aaron Nyerges  72Part Two. Producing Authentic New Orleans4. "Things You'd Imagine Zulu Tribes to Do": The Zulu Parade in New Orleans Carnival / Felipe Smith  935. The Saga of the Junkyard Dog / Bryan Wagner  1176. Local, Native, Creole, Black: Claiming Belonging, Producing Autochthony / Helen A. Regis  1387. The Contradictions of the Film Welfare Economy, or, For the Love of Treme / Vicki Mayer, Heidi Schmalbach, and Toby Miller  162Part Three. What Is New Orleans Identity?8. "Queers, Fairies, and Ne'er-Do-Wells": Rethinking the Notion of a Sexually Liberated New Orleans / Alecia P. Long  1799. Building Black Suburbs in New Orleans / Vern Baxter and Maria Casati  19910. Refugee Pastoralism: Vietnamese American Self-Representation in New Orleans / Marguerite Nguyen  219Part Four. Predictive City?11. Boosting the Private Sector: Federal Aid and Downtown Development in the 1970s / Megan French-Marcelin  24112. What's Left for New Orleans? The People's Reconstruction and the Limits of Anarcho-Liberalism / Cedric G. Johnson  26113. Neoliberal Futures: Post-Katrina New Orleans, Volunteers, and the Ongoing Allure of Exceptionalism / Vincanne Adams  28814. The Myth of Authenticity and Its Impact on Politics-in New Orleans and Beyond / Adolph Reed Jr.  307References  327Contributors  351Index  355