Louisiana Anthology Podcast: 613. Ana Croegaert, Part 1

613 Part 1 of out chat with Ana Croegaert about the removal of Confederate monuments. We also talked to her about her participation in second line parades around the city. “In 2017, the City of New Orleans removed four segregation-era monuments celebrating the Southern Confederacy and valorizing white supremacist ideology. As in other cities, efforts to remove such monuments are not new, and historically have been connected to collective challenges to racialized inequality, and more recently to transnational postcolonial struggles. Given the longstanding activism in favor of removing such monuments I ask, Why now? In exploring this question, I examine the circulation of images, talk, and text about the monuments in relation to the city’s post-2005 political economy and find that people’s expressed sentiments regarding the statues illuminate the ongoing challenges faced by New Orleans’ multiracial working-class and poor residents. I argue that the city administration’s framing of the monuments as emblems of an unequal past decouples the monuments’ removal from the urgent need to meaningfully address present inequalities.” “I am a Chicago-based anthropologist working with ethnography, performance, and artmaking to expand awareness of people’s creative efforts to deal with the aftermath of harm and to craft hopeful futures. From coffee cultures to public memorials, my work spans kitchen cupboards, urban gardens, and city streets to record how people make meaning in their daily lives.”

Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 220 years. Order your copy today!
This week in Louisiana history. February 15, 1956. Fed. Judge S. Wright orders desegregation of N.O. schools with "all deliberate speed."
This week in New Orleans history. Patent #2,341,866 was awarded to Andrew J. Higgins on February 15, 1944. Higgin's boats, built by New Orleanians and used during World War II, and particularly in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, prompted Dwight D. Eisenhower to say, "Andrew Higgins...is the man who won the war for us...If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different." Hitler called Higgins "the "New Noah".
This week in Louisiana.
Family Gras in Jefferson Parish
February 21, 22, & 23, 2025
    Mardi Gras Plaza
    3300 block Veterans Memorial Boulevard
    Across from Lakeside Shopping Center.
Entrance gates will open one hour prior to the festival's start time.
The VIP Royal Pass area will open 30 minutes prior to the music starting.
    Family Gras is a FREE event that features the spectacle of Mardi Gras parades, cuisine, local art, a kids' court, and outdoor concerts by national artists as well as Louisiana favorites!
    Family Gras features a wide variety of musical talents that the entire family can enjoy. The Beach Boys, Brett Eldredge, Cyndi Lauper, Martina McBride, Ann Wilson, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Marshall Tucker Band, The Pointer Sisters, Zac Brown Band, Lauren Aliana, Leann Rimes, and many others have performed in the past.
- Shop the Art Market for items such as Louisiana photography, hair accessories, hand-crafted jewelry, and more.
- Our Kids' Court has various activities for kids 12 and younger, such as face painting, hand-wax art, and interactive games.
- Savor delicious fare from our festival food vendors, such as shrimp po-boys, chicken andouille gumbo, crawfish mac n cheese, Louisiana-style meat pies, California sushi, spicy tuna tacos, and crab & tuna wonton nachos!
- Listen to the music.
- Watch the Krewes of Excalibur, Atlas, and Madhatters as they roll in front of the Family Gras site on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.
Relax in one of Jefferson's hotels. Click here to book your room!
Postcards from Louisiana. Medicare String Band in Natchitoches.