Debris

Abstract

This thesis examines how definitions of blackness came to be constructed and reconstructed over the course of Louisiana’s history into the present. The continued reconstruction of blackness reveals time as a palimpsestic formation. Using my family’s experiences as creole New Orleanians navigating pre and post-Katrina New Orleans, I argue that Hurricane Betsy, Hurricane Katrina, and the recent rise of Airbnb in the city represent New Orleans’ central habitus as a practice of losing that produces grief as its primary affect. The grief produced by this practice of losing traces back to blackness’ construction under French and Spanish colonial rule, holding together the social world of New Orleans even as the hands of state power change. As city officials used events of loss in New Orleans to advance the city’s economic growth, I argue that grief works as a byproduct and fortifier of capitalist formations.