Reading Hurricane Katrina: Race, Class, and the Biopolitics of Disposability

The tragedy and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is symptomatic of a crisis in the United States that extends far beyond matters of governance and the incompetence of the Bush administration. Rather than simply represent a crisis of leadership, Katrina is analysed as part of a biopolitics of disposability—in which entire populations marginalized by race and class are now considered redundant, an unnecessary burden on state …