Date of Award

8-2006

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Program

Urban Studies

Department

School of Urban and Regional Studies

Major Professor

Ward, Martha

Second Advisor

Ehrenreich, Jeffrey

Third Advisor

Gladstone, David

Abstract

Narratives of resilience and resistance are applied by public editors in post-Katrina New Orleans in hopes of reordering the city's ruptured narrative. Using qualitative methods and grounded theory, the textual analysis of local newspaper editorials and letters to the editor, collected from the six month period between August 29, 2005 and February 28, 2006, have revealed categories of hope and struggle in acts of collective reaffirmation; of civility and leadership in expectations of personal transformation; and of self-reliance and civic engagement in acts of resistance. Discussion will focus on how editorialists work to create public narratives that will unite their audience and maintain social order during post-disaster reconstruction.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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