Rebuilding the "Land of Dreams": Expressive Culture and New Orleans' Authentic Future

Rebuilding the Land of Dreams

Video

Part 2: Spitzer discusses “The Basin Street Blues” and prominent representations of New Orleanians in the realms of work and play

Part 3: Spitzer discusses how New Orleans musicians have drawn on their experiences of living in a flood plain

Part 4: Spitzer explores the cultural importance of the city’s musical and building arts, featuring an interview with Eddie Bo

Part 5: Spitzer offers an interview with Allen Toussaint, speaking to the role of musical creativity following Hurricane Katrina

Part 6: Spitzer discusses the meaning of Mardi Gras following the hurricane, highlighting the presence of the Mardi Gras Indians

Part 7: Spitzer explores how The Second Line fuses performance and space, work and play; features an interview with Gregory Davis

Part 8: Spitzer closes by highlighting the movement between tradition and improvisation, features an interview with Michael White

Part 9: Spitzer responds to questions following his presentation “Rebuilding New Orleans Culture and Community with Music”

About Nick Spitzer

Nick Spitzer, folklorist and anthropologist, is known for his work with community-based cultures of the Gulf Coast, American vernacular music, musicians, craftspeople, documentary media, and public cultural policy. He is the creator and host of Public Radio International's weekly program, American Routes, based in New Orleans and heard on over two hundred and twenty-five stations. Spitzer was founding director of the Louisiana Folklife Program and senior folklife specialist at the Smithsonian Institution. He has produced ethnographic films, radio documentaries and CDs on traditional culture, and he is co-editor of the book Public Folklore (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992).
With the exception of the Q & A session, the video of Spitzer's lecture was made at Emory University on March 9, 2006 in a presentation sponsored by the American Studies Program. All contemporary images of New Orleans are used with permission from Nick Spitzer, unless otherwise noted. For information on historic images, see Recommended Resources. Documentary footage included in Part 4 of plasterer and Seventh Ward resident Earl Barthé creating a molding in his workshop is courtesy of Marjorie Hunt.

• f@Emory
• fDisaster and Relief
• fMusic
• fUrban and Suburban Studies