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Based on what I have found thus far regarding narratives surrounding the socioeconomic state of New Orleans, there are two predominant ones I have come across: New Orleans as the “laggard,” the city of play but not work, of poor educational quality, and the other of New Orleans as a "comeback" city shaping to a knowledge-based economy following Hurricane Katrina. The former reminds me of racist stereotypes typically used to describe groups of people deemed not to fit within the white supremacist narrative of progress. The other, post-Hurricane Katrina narrative, is portrayed in the media as a phoenix rising from the ashes, one of the “most rapid and dramatic economic turnarounds in recent American history.” I felt an almost visceral reaction to the assertion of one article that “It would be wrong to say the hurricane destroyed New Orleans public schools, because there was so little worth saving even before the storm hit.” I cannot help but be reminded of “terra nullius,” the “empty land” narrative implemented by colonial powers to seize and control land, dismissing the people residing on the land as insignificant to their broader aim of economic and political dominance. In place of public schools, charter schools are perceived as an improvement—but what of the people who were displaced due to the storm and long to return, yet cannot afford to send their children to a charter school and would be forced to bus their kids across the city? Many people end up not returning to New Orleans as a result. I find it interesting to compare these pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina narratives of New Orleans with the information I find from sources such as this one: a shrinking African American population, fewer young people, less affordable housing, increased segregation, etcetera. What do these demographic changes in the city imply for the “ecosystem” deemed ideal for Innovation hubs? As this article asserts, “New Orleans is making a big name for itself among innovative industries and entrepreneurs and the city’s unique vibe plays a big role in that.” On the other hand, City Councilmember Kristen Palmer asserts that “People have been consistently pushed out…If we lose our people and our culture, we lose our city.” What implication does this “burst” in innovation in New Orleans have for both the Anthropocenics of the city as well as its culture, a culture that is stereotyped as one long “party” with intermittent “emptiness,” as opposed to the realities of the people who have resided in the city for generations, or even the people who moved away after the Hurricane and long to return but to no avail? I am curious to see how education, job training (or lack thereof), and issues of housing feed into the anthropocenics of the city. How do grassroots, social justice and environmentalist activists and organizations (such as this one) perceive the changes in the city following the Hurricane compared to innovation hub technicians and CEOs? How do the social and environmental outcomes of Hurricane Katrina fit within the history of "natural" disasters and climate change in New Orleans? I think it is important to keep articles such as this one central to our focus as we move forward with this project.

I’m interested in how universities, cities, and corporations develop the physical embodiment of the knowledge economy in U.S. city centers in an attempt to foster global connections, and the effect this tends to have on historically black and brown communities. What I find interesting about New Orleans is the manner in which following Hurricane Katrina (which some allege was a human-made disaster), gentrification of the city was spurred on, particularly as predominantly young, white people seeking to work in tech start-ups and corporations moved in to what is deemed yet another potential site for “Innovation.” This made room for corporations and richer residents to move in at the expense of working-class neighborhoods . As council member James Gray argued, “The area desperately needs activity and development…if the city of New Orleans is going to recover, if the Lower Ninth is going to recover- we need development. We cannot turn it away.” I came across an advertisement for an event hosted by INNO that will be held in New Orleans for a “global innovation conference” whereby innovators can “forge the connections that matter.” While I am in the preliminary stages of my research in Houston regarding the Innovation District being built in Midtown Houston, I see astonishing parallels with New Orleans and similar questions arise. Many of the employees at tech companies I have interviewed thus far speak of the notion of the “ecosystem”: the confluence of higher educational institutions, cities, corporations, and start-ups that provides the ideal environment for businesses to thrive and innovation to flourish. However, who is included in this ecosystem and who is left out? What implications (if any) does the use of such environmental terms (ecosystem) to describe innovation economies have for the anthropocene? What does innovation mean and who does it benefit? How do these innovation districts and corridors potentially exacerbate racial inequity in the city, even as they claim to be working for the benefit of all? How do infrastructural neglect and gentrification contribute to health, educational, economic, and environmental disparities, and will innovation in any way seek to address these issues, or merely perpetuate the status quo?

I'm also interested in the narratives that arise surrounding natural disasters, particularly the linear fashion in which events are described. There is a beginning, middle, and end supposedly: but what about before and after, and what about the reoccurence of these disasters? In what ways do these narratives leave out the stories of people who did not get to see the "silver lining" of a disaster? Who did not get to witness the rebuilding of the city? Many of those people moved to Houston and went through another hurricane, Hurricane Harvey. It would be interesting to trace the connections between these two cities. 

Finally, in relation to the topic of slavery, I am interested in the surge of conversations surrounding reparations, particularly in New Orleans and Houston in light of the uneven effects of hurricanes on certain populations. I am intrigued both by memorialization of slavery as well as attempts by elected officials such as Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston and celebrities such as Danny Glover to conduct research (bill H.R. 40) on how to compensate for the U.S.'s history and presence of slavery and racism.

These following quotes best exemplify the message of the article: 

" A nuclear emergency response group can no doubt benefit form improving the community resilience and emergency preparedness but this group will unavoidably carry an elite character." (p 196)

"The international community has come to acknowledge the magnitude of risk and responsibly involved in developing and safely operating nuclear facilities." (P. 199)

"To move forward with maximum efficient, an international nuclear response group needs to operationalize relevant experience form international disaster relief organizations." (p 201)

This program is funded by tuition paid for my students (or maybe some form of scholarship, on a case by case basis.) Columbia University is a private institution, and those enrolled in this program pay a tuition for cost of the education and resources. 

"The distribution and outcome of chronic infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, are so tightly linked to social arrangements that it is difficult for clinicians treating these diseases to ignore social factors. Although AIDS is often considered a “social disease,” clinicians may have radically different understandings of what makes AIDS “social.”  

"The impact of structural violence is even more obvious in the world's poorest countries and has profound implications for those seeking to provide clinical services there.  "

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"We can begin to address this by “resocializing” our understanding of disease distribution and outcome. Even new diseases such as AIDS have quickly become diseases of the poor, and the development of effective therapies may have a perverse effect if we are unable to use them where they are needed most.  "

The argument is supported through an analysis of current subjects of humanitarian aid and how it effects them differently and now the principle of neutrality is not apparent and discrimination is seen based off type of suffering. The argument is also supported through numerous essays from Medecins Sans Frontieres, which provide background information as well as statistical data. Also the expert analysis of the author is used to support the article based on her interpretation and experiences of gender based violence being a humanitarian problem. There is also an ample amount of facts and statistics to support the argument. 

American Red Cross is an organization that learns and advances as new technologies relating to medicine and disease come out, but also an organization that learns from experience. As stated earlier, the organization began with assisting with war related needs and grew from that. Due to what they learned about medical needs of the Army, they were able to flourish and grow rapidly during America's actively military war time. Attending disaster areas such as, for one example, hurricanes such as Katrina, gave volunteers an experience working with that type of disaster. Next time when an area is afflicted with a similar disaster, the organization and its members are now better equipped to handle it. 

This article focuses on the effect of violence on the heath service delivery in complex security environments on individuals, discrimination, property and more. The challenges associated with researching this are also discussed in this paper. The paper notes that there is a deficit in the ability to be able to analyze the correlation of violence and the health service delivery due to data collection. There is an overall lack of research that is health specific, publicly available and isn't gender based. This gap in research, overall limits analysis of the correlation. 

Past policies and global events are used to produce the arguments in this paper. The infrastructure set forth by the WHO and CDC in terms of biosecurity and protocols are cited repeatedly. The response to major historical outbreaks are the main details that are used in the paper in order to communicate the main points. Smallpox, flu and AIDS outbreaks are all noted as events we can learn from today in terms of threat response.