WHAT?

Your work will consist in doing a research into the effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans from a real estate point of view.

You can choose your angle (destruction / emergency housing measures / diaspora from the housing perspective / reconstruction & speculation / the African-American and the poor population excluded from the reconstruction / future perspectives).

WHO?

You can work by yourself or in a team of two or three maximum. If you work in a team, you have two possibilities: 1) either you do half of the work and your friend does the other half (you will need to specify on your work who did what) and you each get a grade for your part of the work; 2) or, you do the work entirely together and you will all have the same grade.

HOW?

I will give points for the quality of the research, the quality of the English and the amount of effort you put into the work. I will expect the work to be at least 3000 words long and to contain illustrations. Please mention all your sources (bibliography, image sources, photographers). Be aware that plagiarism will get you a failing grade. Include a specific title, an introduction, various developments, a conclusion, a bibliography.

WHEN?

I want your essays in typed form, with illustrations (please choose only photos that really illustrate what you are writing about), for  Tuesday 6th May 2008. I will not accept late essays. If you wish to hand them in earlier, you can ask a teacher to put them in my locker (n°128). Since I am placing all the resources online, I will not accept any excuse for not doing the work, you'll get a zero. If you cannot be in class on Tuesday 6th May 2008, you will need to send me the work by email.

Save Public Housing in New Orleans (9'59") - December 06, 2007

A general introduction to the subject (watch first)

Hurricane Katrina: The fight for housing in New Orleans, part 1 (8'12") - December 20, 2006

"This Is My Home is a documentary about the fight for public housing in New Orleans. Most of the city's public housing withstood the hurricane with little or no damage, yet thousands of families are still shut out of their homes and remain displaced across the country. This Is My Home is a tribute to the perseverance of the displaced residents of New Orleans, and it is a call to action for the public, politicians, and all justice-minded people to support their right to return home."

Hurricane Katrina: The fight for housing in New Orleans, part 2 (9'21") - December 20, 2006

Hurricane Katrina: The fight for housing in New Orleans, part 3 (6'05") - December 20, 2006  

The Battle Over New Orleans Public Housing (6'26") - December 18, 2007

(Transcript of the beginning of the documentary)

"Since Hurricane Katrina emptied New Orleans of its residents, a battle has been waged over the future of the city. The struggle over what the "New" New Orleans will look like and who will return to live here largely depends on the future of the city's public housing developments - and this week is a crucial showdown in that fight. The City began demolitions last Wednesday which, if completed, will destroy 4500 units of public housing, making way for "mixed income" neighborhoods with only 800 units of public housing - an 82% reduction in size. 41 000 affordable rental units were destroyed by hurricane Katrina and the city is facing an acute housing shortage. Rents have almost doubled since before the storm - but HUD - the Federal Housing Authority - is pressing ahead with the demolition. 50% of families who want to, but are unable to return to New Orleans make less than $20,000 a year... watching the demolition of part of their Housing Development from across the street, residents believe that the city does not want them back."

Other resources

1. NASA images and documents on Hurricane Katrina, click here
2. Katrina photos day by day on WWL (Louisiana News), click here
3. Wikipedia has a very large database on Katrina and its consequences (all these articles contain bibliographies, many online links to photos, videos, texts, testimonies...) :
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Hurricane Katrina
• Economic effects of Hurricane Katrina
• Effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans
• Criticism of Government response to Hurricane Katrina
• New Orleans diaspora
• Reconstruction of New Orleans
4. Katrina, An Unnatural Disaster - Pictures by some of the world's most talented photojournalists
   • The project
   • A short slideshow at Noor Images
   • Kadir van Lohuizen's gallery n°1 at Noor Images
   • Kadir van Lohuizen's gallery n°2 at Noor Images
   • Katrina Appleton's gallery at Noor Images
   • Thomas Dworzak's gallery at Magnum Photos
5. Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), one of America's most prestigious universities, has dedicated an experts' website to Katrina, MIT Response to Hurricane Katrina
6. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC), click here
7. Women of the Storm, click here
8. Hurricane Katrina Digital Memory Bank, collecting and preserving memories and testimonies of hurricane survivors, click here

1. Photocopied text given in class, an article from Country Life Magazine, "Beatles producer's home for sale"
2. Each student reads and translates into French one sentence
3. Comprehending the text: various oral questions asked
4. Homework:
   • Learn the vocabulary from the text
   • Revision of the future tense: put the first paragraph of the text in the future ("A large period... Geneva, Switzerland").