Stormy Weather: Katrina and the Politics of Disposability

by Henry A. Giroux

"By far the single most important account and analysis of the Katrina catastrophe." David L. Clark, McMaster University In his newest provocative book, prominent social critic Henry A. Giroux shows how the tragedy and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina signals a much larger crisis in the United States-one that threatens the very nature of individual freedom and inclusive democracy. This crisis extends far beyond matters of leadership, governance, or the Bush administration. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart of democracy and must be understood within a broader set of antidemocratic forces that not only made the social disaster underlying Katrina possible, but also contribute to an emerging authoritarianism in the United States. Questions regarding who is going to die and who is going to live are driving a new form of authoritarianism in the United States. Within this form of "dirty democracy" a new and more insidious set of forces-embedded in our global economy-have largely given up on the sanctity of human life, rendering some groups as disposable and privileging others. Giroux offers up a vision of hope that creates the conditions for multiple collective and global struggles that refuse to use politics as an act of war and markets as the measure of democracy. Making human beings superfluous is the essence of totalitarianism, and democracy is the antidote in urgent need of being reclaimed. Katrina will keep the hope of such a struggle alive because for many of us the images of those floating bodies serve as a desperate reminder of what it means when justice, as the lifeblood of democracy, becomes cold and indifferent.

Genres: Education

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 22, 2006

About the author

American cultural critic. One of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States, he is best known for his pioneering work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, higher education, media studies, and critical theory.

A high-school social studies teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island for six years, Giroux has held positions at Boston University, Miami University, and Penn State University. In 2005, Giroux began serving as the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Giroux has published more than 35 books and 300 academic articles, and is published widely throughout education and cultural studies literature. Since arriving at McMaster, Giroux has been a featured faculty lecturer, and has published nine books, including his most recent work, The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex.

Routledge named Giroux as one of the top fifty educational thinkers of the modern period in 2002.

Reviews

[Graham Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anybody who knows anything about me knows that Henry Giroux is the scholar whose career and work I would most like to emulate. He is one of the first cultural theorists and critical pedagogues that I encountered during my undergraduate studies at UNCG. He is contentious, and rightly so, and I find his arguments to almost always be completely spot on. His commentary is much needed -- he says what can be difficult to say and hear, but if it is not said and heard the problems of injustice and inequality in society will only get worse.

This particular work unearths many of the details behind the utterly despicable mishandling of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans by the U.S. government, and then explains how the federal response to the disaster unveils what Giroux refers to as a politics of disposability, an unofficially official policy of shafting American citizens of color and lower socio-economic status when they need assistance the most. In a nutshell, Giroux asks, would the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina have been the same if it had occurred in, say, the Hamptons, or Cape Cod?

[Scott Neigh]

Reviewed here.

[Ty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read a third of this book for another class back in 2006.

Love the writing style as much as the content, a real treat.

[Jim Noyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very good expose, a bit dry, but very worthwhile read.