UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Disaster Recovery Volunteerism and Intersecting Inequalities: A Case Study of Post - Katrina New Orleans A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Ian MacKenzie Breckenridge - Jackson June 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Ellen Reese , Chairperson Dr. Katja M. Guenther Dr. Christopher Chase - Dunn Copyright by Ian MacKenzie Breckenridge - Jackson 201 7 The Dissertation of Ian MacKenzie Breckenridge - Jackson is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was made possible through funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program # 2011120379 (NSF GRFP ) , and by a Graduate Student Research Grant from the University of California Center for New Racial Studies (UCCNRS) . I am deep grateful to both the NSF GRFP and the UCCNRS for supporting this work. I am also thank ful to my team of research assistants for persevering throug h many hours of transcription. This work benefitted from thoughtful feedback from Robert Hanneman, Matthew Mahutga, Alfredo Mirandé , Tanya Nieri , Karen Pyke, Dylan Rodríguez , and Jane Ward , as well as anonymous reviewers from Gender & Society and Soc ial Problems . The project was much improved by the oversight of Chris Chase - Dunn and Katja Guenther , both of whom have indelibly sh aped my scholarly pursuits . Finally, this dissertation was made possible through the guidance of Ellen Reese, my committee chair . Her mentorship and unending generosity inspire d me to be a better scholar at every stage of the research process. iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the Breckenridge and Jackson families who gave me every chance to succeed; to the people of the Lower Ninth Ward ; to my chosen family on Deslonde Street; to Leona Tate, Robert Green, and Malik Rahim, and Rebecca Cooper, Stephanie Dragoon, and Elizabeth Gelvin for making the dream of the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum a reality; and to my partner, Caroline, who inspires me to move beyond myself , cha llenge injustice , and lov e radically . v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Disaster Recovery Volunteerism and Intersecting Inequalities: A Case Study of Post - Katrina New Orleans by Ian MacKenzie Breckenridge - Jackson Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Sociology University of California, Riverside, June 201 7 Dr. Ellen Reese , Chairperson Over one million volunteers travelled to the Gulf Coast to engage in recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, and most chose Ne w Orleans as their destination. To study these disaster re covery volunteers in post - Katrina New Orleans, t his dissertation uses a survey of volunteers as well as interviews with volunteers, volunteer coordinators, and New Orleans residents . Chapter 1 contextualize s the Katrina disaster and the convergence of volu nteers that followed in the framework of an ti - black genocide, the neoliberal racial state , and the nonprofit industrial complex. Chapter 2 develops a typology of nonlocal disaster volunteers: Servants (service - oriented), Activists (justice - oriented), and T ourists (travel - oriented). Chapter 3 finds that volunteers have positive impacts but also have negative impacts that reproduce intersecting race, class, and gender inequalities. Chapter 4 finds that volunteering impacted women in positive ways, including empowerment through masculine labor, and negative ways, including a gende red division of labor and gender harassment. I conclude that volunteerism is a double - edged sword best understood through an intersectional feminist lens. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 - 3 5 Introduction 3 6 - 59 Chapter 1: Hurricane Katrina as Anti - Black Genocide 60 - 119 Chapter 2: Servants, Activists, and Tourists: Volunteerism(s) in Post - Katrina New Orleans 120 - 158 Chapter 3: Aiding Victims and Enacting Privilege 159 - 193 Chapter 4: Reproducing and Challenging Patriarchy Among Volunteers 194 - 204 Conclusion 205 - 231 Appendices 232 - 25 3 References vii LIST OF FIGURES 6 3 Figure 1 – Wolensky’s Types of Volunteerism in the Recovery Stage 7 3 Figure 2 – Volunteer Typology: Servants, Activists, and Tourists viii LIST OF TABLES 16 Table 1 – Interview Participants – Coordinator and Volunteer Demographics 20 T able 2a – Survey Respondents – Volunteer Descriptive Statistics 21 Table 2b – Survey Respondents – Volunteer Descriptive Statistics (Cont.) 24 Table 3a – Survey Respondents – Descriptive Statistics Specific to Volunteering 25 Table 3b – Survey Respondents – Descriptive Statistics Specific to Volunteering (Cont.) 27 Table 4a – Survey Respondents – Attitudes 28 Table 4b – Survey Respondents – Attitudes (C ont.) 7 4 Table 5a - Survey Respondents – Volunteer Participation in Organization Types Before, During, and After Volunteering in Post - Katrina New Orleans 7 5 Table 5b – Survey Respondents – Organizational Types Crosstabulated With Organizational Types 7 8 Ta ble 6a – Survey Respondents – Motivations for Volunteering in Post - Katrina New Orleans 7 9 Table 6b – Survey Respondents – Motivations for Volunteering in Post - Katrina New Orleans (Cont.) 80 Table 7a – Survey Respondents – Faith - Based Org. Crosstabulated with Motives 8 1 Table 7b – Survey Respondents – Activist Org. Crosstabulated with Motives ix 8 3 Table 8a – Survey Respondents – Participation with Faith - based Organization and Activist Organization Crosstabulated with Political Views 8 4 Table 8b – Survey Respondents – Participation with Volunteer Tourist Organization and College Course Crosstabulated with Political Views 8 5 Table 8c – Survey Respondents – Participation with College Organization Crosstabulated with Political Views 8 7 Table 9a – Survey Respondents – Faith - Based Org. Crosstabulated with Attitudes 8 8 Table 9b – Survey Respondents – Faith - Based Org. Crosstabulated with Attitudes (Cont.) 8 9 Table 10a – Survey Respondents – Activist Org. Crosstabulated with Attitudes 90 Table 10b – Survey Respondents – Activist Org. Crosstabulated with Attitudes (Cont.) 10 1 Table 11a – Survey Respondents – Faith - Based Organization Crosstabulated with Actions 10 2 Table 11b – Survey Respondents – Activist Organization Crosstabulated with Actions 11 1 Table 12a – Survey Respondents – Changes in Political Views 11 2 Table 12b – Survey Respondents – Effects of Volunteering on Participants 11 5 Table 13 – Survey Respondents – Relocation to New Orleans and Change in Political Views 172 Table 14a – Survey Respondents – Volunteer Demographics by Gender 173 Table 14b – Survey Respondents – Volunteer Demographics by Gender x 178 Table 15a – Survey Respondents – Statistically Significantly Gendered Forms of Participation 179 Table 15b – Survey Respondents – Weakly Gendered Forms of Participation – Ordered by % Ratio 181 Table 16 – Survey Respondents – Gender Crosstabulated with Sexist Behavior on Volunteer Worksites xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CBL Community based learning CoBRAS Color - Blind Racial Attitudes Scale CNCS Corporation for Natio nal and Community Service EEOC Equal Employment Opportunity Commission FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency GEQ Gender Experiences Questionnaire GNOCDC Greater New Orleans Community Data Center LGBTQ L esbian, gay, bi sexual, transgender, queer /questioning MDS Mennonite Disaster Services MEBS Modified Economic Beliefs Scale MHS Modern Homophobia Scale MOFRS Modern and Old - Fashioned Racism Scale NORM New Orleans Rebirth Movement NPIC Nonprofit industria l complex NS Neosexism Scale SEQ Sexual Experiences Questionnaire UNGC United Nations Genocide Convention xii Introduction Before Hurricane Betsy hit the northeastern seaboard in 2012, Hurricane Katrina was the largest disaster in U.S. history. Direct storm and flood damage totaled $135 billion, 850,000 homes were severely damaged or destroyed (Espinoza 2006), and over 100,000 New Orleans residents were displaced (Hallegatte 2008). Historically, New Orleans has bounce d back quickly from disaster both demographically and economically (Colten et al. 2008:7), but the recovery period foll owing Hurricane Katrina was projected to be longer than that of any other studied disaster in American history (Kates et al. 2006). A ll disasters and their outcome s are due to some combination of natural, t echnological, and social forces. For instance, the impact of Hurricane Sandy certainly had its social dimensions, but the storm was not generally interpreted as “ground zero” for social injustice the way p ost - Katr ina New Orleans was. In this vein, the legacy of Hurricane Sandy has not tarnished the Obama administration in the same way that Hurricane Katrina has for the Bush administration . For Katrina, it was the failures of technology and society that solidified i ts place in American history. Hurricane Katrina was a predicted and preventable social disaster driven by endemic social problems including racism and neoliberalism. The atrocities surrounding Katrina and the botched governmental response are well establ ished as an example of racial disaster that resulted in the disproportionate loss of life and destruction of property for black New Orleanians (David and Enarson 2012; Dyson 2006; Giroux 2006; Hartman and Squires 2006; Johnson 2011; Muhammad 2006 ; South En d Press 2007) . The Katrina 1 disaster, however, has not been established as a manifestation of a continuous history anti - black genocide perpetrated by the racial state apparatus that is the U.S. government ( Goldberg 2002; James and Redding 2005; Muhammad