'Continuing disaster' of culture loss grabs 2 CSU researchers

Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Far more than houses were lost in Hurricane Katrina.

Those forced to flee and establish new lives in different locations also lost their culture, and that may have the more permanent effect.

Two Colorado State University staffers, Kate Browne, an expert in Afro-Creole populations and professor of anthropology, and Lori Peek, a disaster researcher in the Department of Sociology, have teamed to document the stories of evacuees.

They received $100,000 from the National Science Foundation and the university's College of Liberal Arts to study the loss of culture in 13,000 Gulf Coast evacuees who settled at least temporarily in Colorado.

"Evacuees feel a profound sense of attachment to New Orleans: Its Creole food, its music, its flair for celebration and even the way of talking were wildly different than what they have found in other areas," a university release quotes Browne as saying.

Those who came to Colorado feel a sense of the massive scale of material losses, but that is just part of the problem, she said.

"Nobody even owned a fleece jacket," Browne said. "The climate, literally and culturally, left most people feeling disoriented and without a sense of control over their lives. Add to all this their separation from family, and you have a continuing disaster that is nowhere near over."

The CSU research group has developed a Web site to act as an information clearinghouse for Denver evacuees. The site, www.MileHiNew-Orleans.org, contains resources for life in Denver such as work opportunities, as well as life back home in New Orleans, links to information on assistance and New Orleans news Web sites.

How evacuees fared is reflected in the proximity to their former social networks, the research shows.

Many evacuees came from a culture based in French Creole roots in which celebration, regional cuisine and extended family ties are highly valued.

While some residents have moved back home, and many others would like to, a lack of resources and feelings of uncertainty prevent them from returning.

In addition to evacuees brought to Colorado, Browne has followed the story of a large family that evacuated together from the bayou parishes of New Orleans and went to a family member's home in Dallas.

With the help of Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Virginia Martin, the team is telling the story of the New Orleans family that Browne interviewed for the film Finding a Way Back, scheduled for release in December. It examines how one large bayou family was able to stay together throughout the evacuation and their return home.

"The film tells another part of the story," Browne said. "When you have 155 individuals who evacuate together and who now have gotten themselves back to New Orleans, you really see the power of family solidarity in a time of crisis.

"In Denver, people still separated from their families face economic catastrophe in a cultural environment that is still like a foreign country to them."