ESPM 50AC Unit 1

Site

The physical characteristics of a place, including environmental conditions. Example: New Orleans lies below sea level with a high water table and poor natural drainage.

Situation

The relative advantages of a place compared to other locations. Example: New Orleans' location near the mouth of the Mississippi River provides major trading and defense advantages.

Southeastern Louisiana Wetlands

A fragile deltaic plain in the Mississippi River Delta that supports ecosystems, fisheries, infrastructure, and culture. The region has lost over 2,300 square miles of land since 1930 due to levees, oil infrastructure, and sediment loss.

Mississippi River Delta Land Loss

Catastrophic loss of coastal land caused by levees blocking sediment deposition, oil and gas canals, navigation channels, subsidence, and upriver dams trapping sediment.

"Levees Only" System

A flood control strategy focused on building levees to contain the Mississippi River. It reflects an instrumentalist belief in controlling nature but contributed to coastal erosion and increased vulnerability to flooding.

Historical Geography of New Orleans

New Orleans was founded in 1718 and developed along the natural levee of the Mississippi River. Over time, drainage technology allowed expansion into low-lying land, which increased flood risk.

Sociocultural Geography of New Orleans

The city historically had racial and cultural divisions: Creole communities in the French-speaking lower city and Anglo-dominated areas in the upper city. After the Civil War, African Americans were often forced into the lowest and riskiest areas.

Environmental Impact of Hurricane Katrina

Storm surge destroyed wetlands, saltwater killed vegetation, and levee failures flooded neighborhoods with polluted water and toxic sediment.

Causes of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster

A combination of environmental degradation and policy failures including wetland loss, levee dependence, oil infrastructure damage, subsidence, and government neglect.

Landscapes of Racially Differentiated Risk

Patterns of environmental vulnerability shaped by race and class. In Katrina, African Americans were disproportionately affected due to residential segregation and concentration in vulnerable areas.

Katrina Flooding Statistics

About 60% of African American homes were flooded compared to about 24% of white homes in the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Infrastructure-Based Recovery

Post-Katrina rebuilding focused heavily on strengthening levees and flood control infrastructure.

Market-Based Recovery Approaches

Rebuilding strategies that relied on private investment, deregulation, tax incentives, and economic growth to restore the region.

Community-Based Recovery Approaches

Recovery strategies focused on equity, community participation, affordable housing, and addressing structural inequality.

Uneven Recovery

Post-Katrina rebuilding produced economic and racial disparities including gentrification, rising rents, and reduced affordable housing.

Worster's Environmental History Framework

A framework with three analytical levels: nature (ecological systems), social organization (economic and political systems), and culture (beliefs and values about nature).

Nature (Worster)

The non-human environmental world including climate, ecosystems, and geology.

Social Organization (Worster)

Human systems such as economies, institutions, and technologies that shape interactions with nature.

Culture (Worster)

Human beliefs, values, ethics, and ideas about nature.

Instrumentalist Perspective on Nature

A worldview where humans dominate and control nature using technology and engineering.

Intersubjective Perspective on Nature

A view that humans and nature interact as active partners in shaping environmental outcomes.

Intra-subjective Perspective on Nature

A worldview where humans and nature are part of a unified whole, often associated with Indigenous perspectives.

Environmental Segregation

The spatial separation of groups that exposes marginalized populations to greater environmental risk.

Racial Formation (Omi & Winant)

The sociohistorical process through which racial categories are created, transformed, and given meaning in society.

Racial Projects

Efforts that interpret, represent, or organize racial identities and structures in society (e.g., policies, social movements, or institutions).

Hegemony

A dominant system of ideas and cultural norms that people accept as common sense, maintaining power structures.

Hegemonic Narratives

Stories and representations that reinforce dominant social power and perspectives.

Counter-Hegemonic Narratives

Ideas and narratives that challenge dominant power structures and racial hierarchies.

Media Representation of Katrina

Media coverage portrayed Black survivors as "looters" while whites were described as "finders," reflecting racial bias.

Ideological Racism

Racism based on individual prejudice, discriminatory beliefs, or intentional bias.

Structural Racism

A system of institutionalized inequality embedded in social, political, and economic structures.

Segregation in Post-Katrina Rebuilding

Reconstruction efforts struggled to balance displaced residents' right to return with avoiding the recreation of concentrated poverty.

Sovereignty

The ultimate political authority over a territory or group of people.

Property as a Bundle of Rights

Property ownership consists of different rights such as control, use, transfer, and exclusion rather than a single absolute right.

Private Property

An individual's legal right to control and exclude others from using a resource.

State Property

Property controlled by the government or public institutions.

Common Property

Resources managed collectively where community members share access rights.

Control Rights

The authority to determine how a resource can be used.

Use Rights

Permission to use a resource in specific ways determined by control rights.

Usufruct Rights

Limited rights to use property without owning it or transferring it.

Locke's First Rights

The idea that individuals own their own labor and gain property rights by mixing their labor with land.

Locke's Accumulation Theory

The introduction of money allows individuals to accumulate unlimited wealth because money does not spoil.

Lockean Social Contract

Individuals consent to government authority in exchange for protection of their natural rights such as life, liberty, and property.

Possessive Individualism

A political philosophy emphasizing individual property rights and market freedom.

Populist Agrarianism

An ideology emphasizing widespread property ownership, community well-being, and equitable distribution of resources.

Property as Social Process

Property rights are socially constructed relationships between people and resources that evolve over time.

De Jure Property Rights

Legal property rights formally recognized by law.

De Facto Property Rights

Informal property rights established through practice or occupation.

Acculturation

The adoption of dominant cultural practices and values.

Assimilation

The full incorporation of a minority group into dominant social institutions, often involving loss of original cultural identity.