The Katrina Hurricane Spectacle and Crisis of the Bush Presidency

Bibliographic Data

ID2408221
AuthorsDouglas Kellner (0000-0002-1643-6744)
Year2007
Volume7
Issue2
Pages222-234
Publication date2007-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-7086 • E-ISSN: 1552-356X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532708606295642
OpenAlexW2011139512
LanguageEN
Citations received10

The August 2005 Hurricane Katrina media spectacle put on display the glaring inequities of race and class that define the United States in the new millennium. The inability of the federal government to respond to the catastrophe called attention not only to the failures and incompetence of the Bush administration but also to the crisis of neoliberalism whereby the market alone cannot provide for the needs of citizens and deal with crises. Katrina also called attention to a 'politics of disposability' whereby certain people are deemed disposable and not worthy of care and help. The biopolitics of inequality and disposability was put on full display in the Katrina spectacle and may be one of the most important aftereffects of the tragic episode

Administration (probate law · Biopower · Development economics · Economics · Geography · Government (linguistics · Hurricane katrina · Natural disaster · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidency · Sociology · Spectacle · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Media Studies and Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Law