614. Ana Croegaert, Part 2

614. Part 2 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.”

1. 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!
   
2. This week in Louisiana history. February 22, 1864. James Wells elected governor of Union Occupied Louisiana.
3. This week in New Orleans history. Happy Birthday Ernie K-Doe, "Emperor of the Universe," born on February 22, 1936 at Charity Hospital. “I’m not positive, but I think all music came from New Orleans.”
4. This week in Louisiana.
   Alexandria Krewes Parade
   2:00 pm. Sunday,
   March 2, 2025
   Route: Texas Avenue – Masonic – Memorial – North Boulevard – Alexandria Mall
   Alexandria, LA 71301
       Each Mardi Gras Parade Krewe has a unique history and theme. Some have been around for decades, while others have been in existence for just a few years.
   The goal of the AMGA (Alexandria Mardi Gras Association) is to provide a cultural event, appealing to all cross sections of the community, state and region, to help stimulate the economy.
       The Mardi Gras du Couer de la Louisianne (Mardi Gras in the Heart of Louisiana) spirit has really taken hold of Central Louisiana since the first parade was held on Sunday, February 13, 1994. Alexandria’s Mardi Gras has grown from having a total of ten floats with participation of four Mardi Gras Krewes that first year, to presently having twenty-three floats and Krewes. The Krewe Parade attendance is estimated at 150,000 and the Children’s Parade attendance is estimated at 45,000.
       For additional information, please contact us here.
   
5. Postcards from Louisiana. Phillip Manuel sings with Michael Pellera Trio play at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen St. in New Orleans.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Listen on audible.
Listen on Spotify.
Listen on TuneIn.
Listen on iHeartRadio.
The Louisiana Anthology Home Page.
Like us on Facebook.