Description

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Development Drowned and Reborn is a "Blues geography" of New Orleans, one that compels readers to return to the history of the Black freedom struggle there to reckon with its unfinished business. Reading contemporary policies of abandonment against the grain, Clyde Woods explores how Hurricane Katrina brought long-standing structures of domination into view. In so doing, Woods delineates the roots of neoliberalism in the region and a history of resistance.

Written in dialogue with social movements, this book offers tools for comprehending the racist dynamics of U.S. culture and economy. Following his landmark study, Development Arrested, Woods turns to organic intellectuals, Blues musicians, and poor and working people to instruct readers in this future-oriented history of struggle. Through this unique optic, Woods delineates a history, methodology, and epistemology to grasp alternative visions of development.

Woods contributes to debates about the history and geography of neoliberalism. The book suggests that the prevailing focus on neoliberalism at national and global scales has led to a neglect of the regional scale. Specifically, it observes that theories of neoliberalism have tended to overlook New Orleans as an epicenter where racial, class, gender, and regional hierarchies have persisted for centuries. Through this Blues geography, Woods excavates the struggle for a new society.

About the Author

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Clyde Woods (Author) CLYDE WOODS (1957-2011) was an associate professor of Black studies and acting director of the Center for Black Studies Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Development Arrested: The Blues and Plantation Power in the Mississippi Delta, and editor of In the Wake of Hurricane Katrina: New Paradigms and Social Visions. Laura Pulido (Editor) LAURA PULIDO is a professor of ethnic studies and geography at the University of Oregon. Jordan T. Camp (Editor) JORDAN T. CAMP is a Visiting Scholar in the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University and Co-Director of the Racial Capitalism Working Group in the Center for the Study of Social Difference at Columbia University.