Readings for Wed. 2/28

I've posted two readings in the "files" section of the google groups page. The first is a very short (4-pg) piece from a recent theme issue of American Anthropologist on Hurricane Katrina. I think it will be a nice follow-up to our discussion of vulnerability last week. Perhaps we can tackle the question of how to decrease vulnerability as New Orleans rebuilds. Is it possible considering the current political-economic situation in the city?

The second piece is a chapter scanned from a recent volume on Urban Political Ecology that explores food justice issues. In addition to being an interesting piece intellectually, I think it can spur further discussion on political ecology as an activist tool. Maybe we can talk about Heynen's "activist scholarship".

Hope to see many of you at 3 Roots - 9:00 am, Wed. 2/28!

Colten, C. E. (2006). Vulnerability and place: Flat land and uneven risk in new orleans. American Anthropologist, 108(4), 731-734.

Heynen, N. C. (2006). Justice of eating in the city: The political ecology of urban hunger. In N. C. Heynen, M. Kaika & E. Swyngedouw (Eds.), In the nature of cities: Urban political ecology and the politics of urban metabolism (pp. 129-142)Routledge.