“They probably got us all on the news”: Personal Narratives and Public Trauma in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Although stories and images of suffering during Hurricane Katrina saturated public discourse in 2005, the fundamental failures of communication that characterize this catastrophe remain undertheorized—especially the ease with which some stories have been accepted and others ignored. My dissertation brings together representations of the storm’s darkest moments, narrated by eyewitnesses, then shared in a broad spectrum of genres and rhetorical situations. Examining contexts of production, circulation, and reception, I demonstrate that the ways in which survivors’ personal stories are shared with larger audiences can either confirm or confound stereotypical representations of the narrators’ communities, with material consequences for their immediate aid and ongoing recovery. The approaches that drive my analysis include ethnography of communication and narrative performance, critical discourse analysis, rhetorical analysis of life writing, critical race theory, and critical theories of trauma. This project examines Katrina in a new light, focusing on the representational tactics of survivors and the processes by which their narratives are recognized or rejected. Beyond that, this study contributes to current theoretical understandings about how different communicative contexts and rhetorical situations shape the knowledge that is created about trauma and recovery. Texts conveying the eyewitness accounts of survivors have an obligation to include narrators’ critical engagement with the processes by which their stories are being collected and shared.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor dc:publisher

The Ohio State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Horigan, Katherine Greene Parker

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shuman, Amy

• Folklore
• Rhetoric

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366121790

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:osu1366121790