Moral Outrage and Teaching about Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

This article is a pedagogical case study reflecting on the Teaching the Levees curriculum (Crocco, 2007), written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in tandem with the Spike Lee film, When the Levees Broke (2006). Over 30,000 copies of the curriculum, underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation, were distributed widely throughout and beyond the United States. In a review of the curriculum, the writer praised it but felt that it had not done enough to express “moral outrage” (Kavanagh, 2009) about the situation of individuals caught in New Orleans as a result of the levees breaching and the city flooding. This review prompted this article, which uses several works of Nel Noddings, including her book (with Laurie Brooks) on Teaching Controversial Issues (2017), to take up the question of whether and how moral outrage regarding this event should shape approaches to teaching about Hurricane Katrina or other natural disasters in social studies classrooms.

Additional Resources

Periodicals1. Crocco, M.S. & Grolnick, M. (2008). Teaching The Levees: An exercise in democratic dialogue. Journal of Educational Controversy, 3, Article 16.

This article provides insights into how the curriculum Teaching The Levees was produced by various teams of scholars and teachers who came together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to produce a set of teaching materials addressing the storm from a multi-disciplinary perspective focused on democratic dialogue and civic engagement.

2. Vick, K. (2017, October 9). The island and the storm. Time Magazine, 190, 26-31.

A short (5-page) photojournalistic piece that documents the condition of Puerto Rico about two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit the island. The author, reporting from San Juan, says that “Puerto Rico was wrecked by Hurricane Maria, then ignored by the mainland.” He then goes onto describe the scale of the devastation and the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Books3. Pang, V.O., Fernekes, W.R., & Nelson, J.L. (Eds.) (2010). The human impact of natural disasters: Issues for the inquiry-based classroom. National Council for the Social Studies Bulletin 110. Washington, DC: NCSS.

This edited volume has a set of chapters that deal with teaching about natural disasters using an inquiry-oriented approach in social studies. A unique volume, the book offers the educator a variety of practical ideas for infusing teaching this topic into the social studies curriculum --across different subject matter and grade levels.

Websites4. Teaching Tolerance -- https://www.tolerance.org/

This is a great website, which is affiliated with the Southern Poverty Law Center and offers an extensive array of materials associated with teaching for social justice, including materials on Hurricanes Harvey and Maria as well as lessons on Katrina and Sandy. Of particular importance to this article, another lesson explores the connections between “Poverty and Natural Disasters.”