Jeune Street

The posting has been light over the past week because I’ve been attending the African Studies Association conference in New Orleans. The conference itself has been terrific. Highlights have included several excellent papers on China and India in Africa, a fascinating presentation on the global economic crisis by Shanta Devarajan, a keynote by Johnnie Carson (my notes here), and some really sharp papers on counterinsurgency in Africa. I was disappointed to have missed the paper by Laura Seay, the young blogging legend over at Texas in Africa.

Outside of the conference itself, today’s lunch-time tour of the Katrina-affected areas was affecting and uplifting. I joined a group of conference-goers and we were accompanied by a local prof who had helped to produce a documentary on Katrina’s aftermath, and we saw the areas of New Orleans worst affected by the hurricane. Among these was the Lower Ninth Ward, were the walls of the industrial canal burst and flooded the entire neighbourhood. Every house was irreparably damaged or destroyed. While it is a lower-income neighbourhood, it is also the first ward in the US South to have desegregated its schools, and it has an extraordinarily high rate of home ownership. It is also home to personalities like Fats Domino.

Driving through the Lower Ninth, it was difficult to believe that it used to be densely populated. 70% of lots have been cleared but not rebuilt. Concrete slabs remain, and steps rise to nowhere. Most plots of land are filled with weeds. One of the obstacles to reconstruction has been the low rate of documentation for home ownership. Some people just don’t want to move back.

But for those who do, the Make It Right Foundation is doing incredible things. I had initially read about this organization, started by Brad Pitt, in The Atlantic magazine. In general I’m sceptical of celebrity philanthropy, but this is a notable exception. Make It Right is employing world-renowned architects (from North America, Europe, Japan, and Africa) to design model houses that are: made of sustainable materials, inexpensive to maintain, generate much of their own electricity, respond efficiently to the climate, and reflect architectural features of the neighbourhood. The Foundation works with current and former residents of the neighbourhood to validate their land claims, assist them with financing, and to build these amazing homes for $120-150,000. We met with an architect and community organizer who work with the project, and we were invited by one of the residents to see her home. What is remarkable about the project is not only its environmental innovation and architectural audacity, but the deep compassion and humility of the people who are managing the reconstruction. They are excited about their work, clear about its challenges, and eager to share what they have learned to apply to reconstruction efforts elsewhere in the city and in other disaster-affected cities. While their overall impact is small — they plan to build about 150 houses — the impact of their example will be much greater.