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Reforming the city: Neoliberal school reform and democratic contestation in New Orleans
Author(s) -
Huff Alice
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the canadian geographer / le géographe canadien
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.35
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1541-0064
pISSN - 0008-3658
DOI - 10.1111/cag.12018
Subject(s) - democracy , attendance , neighbourhood (mathematics) , public administration , education reform , political science , work (physics) , democratic education , sociology , economic growth , political economy , politics , higher education , law , economics , engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans became a testing ground for a series of neoliberal school reforms, including the eradication of neighbourhood attendance boundaries and the extensive charterization of public schools in the parish. Ostensibly designed to improve schooling options, these efforts are not directed solely at securing positive educational outcomes. Instead, neoliberal school reforms utilize spatial strategies to reshape the city itself in ways that often benefit white elites while displacing and disempowering many of the city's poor people of colour. These reform strategies tend to undermine democratic life but, as illustrated by the work of the non‐profit group OPEN (Orleans Public Education Network), they do not foreclose the possibility of it. Rather than taking a particular stand toward the current reforms, OPEN attempts to build civic capacity around educational issues. The deliberative process they use creates a time and a place for a type of educative experience that is actively discouraged by neoliberal reform and yet vitally important to democratic struggles.