NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A leading expert on the geographical and social/racial issues that complicate the recovery of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina will share his unique perspective on the aftermath of the tragedy during a lecture at Vanderbilt University.
Craig E. Colten, the Carl O. Sauer Professor of Geography at Louisiana State University, will speak on “Race and Relief in New Orleans: A Hazardous Topography” at 4:10 p.m. Jan. 26 in the Moore Room on the second floor at Vanderbilt Law School. The lecture is sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies as part of an annual series that highlights work in the humanities or social sciences that has a direct effect on pubic policy.
The lecture is free, and the public is invited.
In his book An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature, published in 2005 before New Orleans flooded, Craig E. Colten wrote presciently about the potential for just such a disaster.
“Massive and shallow Lake Pontchartrain makes the city vulnerable to natural disasters,” Colten wrote. “Should a Class 5 hurricane blow water over the lakefront levees, the city could find itself under water for months. Evacuations efforts would
face serious bottlenecks due to the limited number of escape routes across the water-logged terrain.”
Since the flooding, Colten has been called upon as an expert frequently by national media, including The New York Times, USA Today and Time.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu