The #Landmass between New Orleans and Mobile: Neglect, Race, and the Cost of Invisibility
The #Landmass between New Orleans and Mobile: Neglect, Race, and the Cost of Invisibility
In 2012, a forecaster on The Weather Channel allegedly reported that an incoming hurricane was a threat to “the landmass between New Orleans and Mobile.” The folklore of the “landmass” internet meme cycle that followed, in which residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast mocked their own invisibility from mainstream consciousness, could easily be dismissed as an inconsequential bit of fun. However, this chapter argues that the meme is part of a larger pattern of expressive culture that, when examined, reveals lingering trauma from Hurricane Katrina and the disturbing systems of oppression—racial, economic, cultural—still at work in the region and, consequently, the nation.
Keywords: Hurricane Katrina, meme, trauma
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