Date of Award

1-1-2016

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Richard Clemmer-Smith, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Esteban Gomez

Third Advisor

Maik Nwosu

Keywords

Anthropology, Disasters, Katrina, Museum, New Orleans, Resilience

Abstract

This research project focuses on the entanglement of cultural heritage, museums, disasters, and resilience. Using The Presbytère museum's exhibit, Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond as a case study, I critically examined who is represented in the exhibit and how, what roles museum professionals and New Orleans community members held in the exhibit construction, and visitors' insight on the exhibit content. I argue that the promotion of New Orleans' culture and recovery post-Katrina throughout the exhibit has promoted the overall image of New Orleans and her residents as resilient. Framed by a variety of academic fields, this research contributes to a growing body of knowledge and interdisciplinary literature on disaster mitigation, the importance of culture to recovery, the benefits of and restrictions to incorporating the New Museology into common museological practice, as well as the changing functions and purposes of museums in the new millennia.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Molly Hagan

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

110 p.

Discipline

Museum Studies

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