Dr. Cassandra Shepard Book Talk and Discussion on Recent New Orleans History

On Monday, September 21, at 6:30 PM, Dr. Cassandra Shepard will provide an author talk and discussion about her recently published book, Settler Colonialism Is The Disaster: A Critique of New Orleans After Katrina and During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2026). Dr. Shepard is a scholar trained in Black studies and is assistant professor of African American Diaspora Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana. Shepard is a New Orleans native, artist (rapper), and author of academic and non-academic writing.

In the wake of 20th anniversary events observing the impact of Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Shepard's analysis is a timely critique of how the conditions that naturalize the historic forms of disaster and catastrophe are rooted in settler colonialism and slavery’s afterlife as ongoing processes rather than concluded events. This is an opportunity to engage with a critical Black studies scholar and her scholarship that directly intersects with many interests--from public history to public policy—of our faculty, students, and broader Louisiana community.

This programming is one key part of the Map To Black Studies library collections development project that seeks to expand access to the vast scholarship on Black life across the disciplines and in particular Black studies. The talk will be hosted at the Ernest J. Gaines Center on the third floor of the Dupré Library.

If you have any questions, please email Dr. Theodore R. Foster III at theodore.foster@louisiana.edu or Cheylon Woods at cheylon.woods@louisiana.edu, director of the Ernest J. Gaines Center.