University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

NEWS RELEASE

CSUN Series Explores the Cultural, Political Implications
of Natural Disasters in California, New Orleans

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Nov. 8, 2006) -- A new lecture and performance series at Cal State Northridge, "Natural Disaster: California, New Orleans, the World," explores the cultural and political implications of natural disasters.

The series, presented by Northridge’s Humanities Interdisciplinary Program in the College of Humanities, is free and open to the public. It consists of a discussion, two lectures and a staged reading of a new play, all offering a variety of perspectives on how natural disasters can change the political and cultural landscapes of the regions they hit.

"I hope that the series makes people think about the fact that a lot of the aspects of what we call a natural disaster are actually more ‘unnatural’ than natural," said English professor Rick Mitchell, coordinator of the interdisciplinary program and an award-winning dramatist. "The aftermath of a disaster such as a hurricane or an earthquake is often associated with ‘acts of God’ when so many times the problems that appear are actually related to race, socio-economic status and vulnerability. It’s often the poorest, in a particular part of the world or in a particular city, who are the most vulnerable. We saw that in New Orleans."

Mitchell said participants in "Natural Disaster: California, New Orleans, the World" will explore those issues and more.

Louisiana-based environmental activist and MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowship recipient Wilma A. Subra will kick off the "Natural Disaster" series as a participant in a roundtable discussion on the environment and disaster in California, New Orleans and Africa on Monday, Nov. 20, at 5 p.m. in the Whitsett Room on the fourth floor of Sierra Hall on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St.

Subra, who trained as a microbiologist, conducted groundbreaking environmental work on the Love Canal disaster and is currently working in post-Katrina New Orleans and in other parts of the world.

She will also present a lecture, "Hurricanes Katrina & Rita: A Louisiana Activist’s Perspective," at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 21, in the Campus Theatre, located in Nordhoff Hall on the southwest corner of the campus.

A week later, Pulitzer Prize nominee Philip L. Fradkin, author of The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself, will discuss "Beyond Disaster" during his presentation on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 12:30 p.m. in the Campus Theater. In addition to The Great Earthquake, named to the Los Angeles Times’ and San Francisco Chronicle’s 2005 best book lists, Fradkin has written numerous environmental histories on California and the West.

The series concludes on Thursday, Dec. 14, with a staged reading of an early draft of a new play by Mitchell, in collaboration with Hollywood’s Theatre of NOTE, entitled "THROUGH THE ROOF: A Natural History."

The play chronicles the adventures of two people who meet on the rooftop in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans while escaping rising floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina. The pair inadvertently travel back in history, to New Orleans and California, and visit other disasters, both "natural" and otherwise, while discovering that racial conflict and natural catastrophe are never far removed. The play is based, in part, on recent interviews with disaster survivors as well as on archival research.

The reading will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Whitsett Room. Several more readings of the play are expected to be staged throughout the Los Angeles area in early 2007.

.

"Natural Disaster: California, New Orleans, the World" was made possible by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the council’s statewide California Stories Initiative. The series is sponsored by Northridge’s Humanities Interdisciplinary Program, Department of English, English Honors Option, Distinguished Visiting Speakers program and Department of Theatre.

For more information about the series, call Stacia Black in the Humanities Interdisciplinary Program at (818) 677-3441.

CSUN’s College of Humanities is home to more than 13 academic departments and programs. Its mission is to create a community of learners who explore and value the diversities of cultures, thought, perspectives, literatures and languages of humanity; critically reflect on and analyze multiple dimensions of human identity and experience; contribute to scholarship and creative production and innovation; and act as responsible global citizens committed to principles of freedom, equality, justice and participatory democracy.