Casa Samba: Identity, Authenticity, and Tourism in New Orleans

ABSTRACT Casa Samba is a cultural organization and samba school that has been operating in New Orleans’ performance scene since 1986. The group has been run by an American couple, Curtis and Carol Pierre, since its inception. Their son, Bomani Pierre, has been raised in the Afro-Brazilian drumming and dance practices that Casa Samba teaches and performs. Life histories of the group’s founding family are the basis of this qualitative case study. Using the details of individual lives and the context that these details provide, this dissertation seeks answers to two key questions: How and why does an American couple run a samba school? How does Casa Samba’s presence in New Orleans shape its practices? As Carol and Curtis described their early lives and young adulthoods, it became apparent that each of them was seeking a way to remake their identities. The terrain for analyzing this search became personal authenticity, and I examine how each of the adult Pierres is on a quest for personal authenticity that begins early in their lives and continues through their creation and maintenance of Casa Samba. But the sense of personal authenticity that underwrites the Pierres’ construction of Casa Samba comes into contact with another form of authenticity, one that is external, evaluative, and also the root of New Orleans’ tourism economy. Thus, further questions arose regarding Casa Samba’s location in New Orleans and its cultural landscape. How does the tourist industry shape what is “authentic”? How is Casa Samba an “authentic” New Orleans cultural organization? In what ways is it an “authentic” representative of Brazilian carnival? In the end, authenticity may be too narrow a concept from which to understand the totality of who the Pierre family is and what Casa Samba is. For this reason, this research examines Casa Samba as a utopian project, a site of cultural belonging, and an Afrocentric venture. I propose that Curtis and Carol Pierre have drawn on their knowledge of what is valuable, meaningful, and important—that is, authentic—to produce a cultural organization that reflects their sensibilities to the fullest extent possible

ANTH 2051

This semester, we will use two texts created with different goals in mind to understand the value of an evolutionary perspective, the pathways of hominin evolution from primates to premodern hominins to Homo sapiens. Our primary goal, one that emerges from the list of smaller goals that appears below, is to learn to use physical anthropology and its ideas, concepts, and points of view, to interpret contemporary human diversity. This course, combined with ANTH 2052 (Introduction to Cultural Anthropology), should prepare you to take more advanced courses in UNO’s Anthropology Department (where our focus is on cultural, urban anthropology). This course can also be useful for framing scientific knowledge gained from courses in biology, chemistry, environmental sciences and other fields so that that you can use that knowledge to interpret everyday experiences

How do Softball Athletes Construct the Media?

The media serves as an extremely important source for many Americans to get information. Mediated sports are extremely popular in today’s society, and commercial sports even have more influence over the press than daily news. The relationship between sports and the media can be seen as a type of partnership (Stead, 2002). When it comes to sporting events, viewers become extremely invested in the games and the athletes that they are watching. Many athletes are forced to give interviews right before games or after heartbreaking loses whether they want to or not. Despite how often sporting events and athlete interviews are on television, there is hardly any research or information as to how the athlete’s feel regarding dealing with the media. This paper attempts to give collegiate softball players an opportunity to share how they construct the role of the media in their sport. I chose softball because of my background of being a collegiate softball player. I conducted in-depth phone interviews with each one of my participants. Each participant was a member of a Power Five Division I softball team (University of Arizona, University of Iowa, Oregon State University, or UCLA). Through the data collection from these interviews I was able to uncover that these athletes all believe athletes have a duty to cooperate with media, won’t cooperate fully with media if they feel violated, journalist have a code of ethics even if it is not always followed, and that athletes should be held to higher standards than other people who deal with the media

Casa Samba: Twenty-One Years of Amerizilian Identity in New Orleans1

Samba drumming and dance traditions work in New Orleans in ways that they do not elsewhere. Casa Samba, a drumming and dance troupe in the tradition of the Brazilian escolas de samba, shows how it works. Integral to this analysis of Casa Samba are the ways in which the group\u27s identity and the identities of its individual members are processual, mutable, and unfinished, always being remade (Gilroy 1993:xi). This thesis examines how Casa Samba has situated itself in the New Orleans music scene. This work seeks, through ethnographic interviews with long term members, to identify what makes Casa Samba attractive to New Orleanians who choose to join this musical troupe as opposed to the myriad of other musical organizations available. Finally, this thesis looks at Casa Samba\u27s post-Katrina rebirth and the ways in which the group\u27s willingness to continuously evolve throughout its history has made this rebirth possible

Casa Samba: Twenty-One Years of Amerizilian Identity in New Orleans1

Samba drumming and dance traditions work in New Orleans in ways that they do not elsewhere. Casa Samba, a drumming and dance troupe in the tradition of the Brazilian escolas de samba, shows how it works. Integral to this analysis of Casa Samba are the ways in which the group\u27s identity and the identities of its individual members are processual, mutable, and unfinished, always being remade (Gilroy 1993:xi). This thesis examines how Casa Samba has situated itself in the New Orleans music scene. This work seeks, through ethnographic interviews with long term members, to identify what makes Casa Samba attractive to New Orleanians who choose to join this musical troupe as opposed to the myriad of other musical organizations available. Finally, this thesis looks at Casa Samba\u27s post-Katrina rebirth and the ways in which the group\u27s willingness to continuously evolve throughout its history has made this rebirth possible

The Effects of an Autobiographical Dialogue Journaling Activity on Student Teachers\u27 Levels of Cultural Sensitivity and Reflective Skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a researcher-designed autobiographical dialogue journaling activity on student teachers\u27 levels of cultural sensitivity and levels of reflection. Written feedback from the university supervisors and cooperating teachers was analyzed to identify differences and similarities in the structure and focus of their responses. Data was collected from 30 student teachers assigned to urban elementary field placements following a six-week structured journaling activity. Student teachers were randomly assigned to one of three journaling conditions: autobiographical dialogue journaling with their cooperating teacher, autobiographical dialogue journaling with their university supervisor, or the traditional student teaching journaling assignment. All student teachers were administrated the Quick Discrimination Index (QDI) as a pre and post test assessment of their level of cultural sensitivity. The three levels of Reflectivity of Deliberative Rationality were used for qualitative analysis of the journals. Dependent t tests, single-classification analysis of variances and an analysis of covariance were used to analyze differences in student teachers\u27 levels of cultural sensitivity among the three groups. The results of the quantitative analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in the student teachers\u27 levels of cultural sensitivity as measured by the QDI following the autobiographical journal activity. However, qualitative analyses indicated that student teachers that used the autobiographical journaling instrument reflect at higher levels than those who used the traditional journaling tool. Student teachers reflecting at higher levels scored higher on the QDI and held different perspectives toward diversity than those student teachers that reflected at the lowest levels. There were also distinct differences in the style of the supervisors and cooperating teachers\u27 written feedback with the supervisors\u27 feedback including more explicit instructional strategies, probing comments, and questions. The results of this study indicate that engaging student teachers in a dialogue journaling activity with university supervisors would encourage critical reflections. Student teachers\u27 perspectives regarding diversity also appear to be related to their reflection skills and cultural sensitivity levels. Findings suggest that the structure of written feedback provided to student teachers might affect their reflection levels. It is recommended that cooperating teachers be trained in providing written feedback

Needs Of Home Health Clients As Perceived By The Client, The Family, And The Nurse

The purpose of this study was to examine the needs of the home health client as perceived by the client, the primary family caregiver, and the primary home health nurse case manager. The similarities and differences of these perceptions were determined. Also, the influence of socioeconomic factors and health locus of control on these perceptions were explored. The theoretical framework which guided this study was Orem\u27s (1985) self-care model. This study is a replication of original research by Smith (1986). Using a descriptive, comparative design the convenience sample was of 21 clients, their family caregivers, and their nurse case managers was assessed through a freestanding home health agency in a large Southern metropolitan area. The predictor variables, socioeconomic status and health locus of control, were measured through the use of two survey questionnaires, the Socioeconomic Status Index and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales, respectively. The criterion variable, perception of needs, was measured through the use of the Modified Molter Survey of Needs questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis was achieved through the use of frequencies. Analysis of Variance, Fischer\u27s Least Significant Difference, and Spearman\u27s rho coefficient test. Findings indicated clients, families, and nurses were harmonious in their perceptions of physical and knowledge needs. However, client-family dyads were more harmonious in their perceptions of feeling and caring needs than were nurse-client dyads. These perceptions may have been influenced by locus of control and socioeconomic status, as the nurses were significantly more internally oriented than the externally oriented clients and families and the nurse were significantly higher on the socioeconomic status index than were the clients and families

Black and white and read all over: An analysis of narratives in the O.J. Simpson murder trial

The thesis examines the O.J. Simpson murder trial and analyzes the racial narratives that affected its outcome and the way it is perceived by the American public. By examining four books about the trial written by lawyers who served on the case, the analysis focuses on how race functions within each of the reconstructed narratives, as well as within the framework of the U.S. criminal justice system. The author argues that racial narratives affect how and why people can see the same event differently, a prime example of which is the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Representations of Mark Fuhrman, his role in the O.J. Simpson trial, and how these are affected by racial narratives are also discussed. The author concludes that the O.J. Simpson murder trial presented an opportunity in which issues concerning race, race relations, and ideologies about race could be openly discussed