By LESLEY REED

lsr003@latech.edu

 

Louisiana’s history is full of hurricanes and other weather-related disasters, including recent hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An upcoming program titled “In the Cross Hairs: Louisiana’s Hurricane Experience,” sponsored by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) and the Louisiana Library Association, will examine the historical impact of hurricanes on science, the economy and social institutions.

“The program’s main purpose is to open up a discussion about the effects that weather-related disasters have had on Louisiana residents,” Jeffrey Hankins, leader of the program and an assistant professor of history, said.

“And we’re not limiting the program to Katrina but relating it to any natural disaster.”

The program will be from 6 to 8 p.m. in three Tuesday sessions, on Jan. 17, 24 and 31, at the Lincoln Parish Library, located at 910 N. Trenton.

History department head, Stephen Webre, said the program will be up-to-date.

“This program is experimental in that it was specifically designed as a timely response to Katrina and Rita,” Webre said.

The program will also use “Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History,” by Erik Larson, to examine the ways in which meteorology and government responses to weather-related disasters have changed in the last hundred years.

“We’ll use the book, but I want people to know that, more than anything, we want to open up a forum for those interested in or affected by Louisiana disasters,” Hankins said.

The series is a part of the LEH’s Readings in Literature and Culture program that sponsors events in public libraries. 

According to RELIC’s Web site, statewide, the “thematic series are led by university scholars, who introduce the books and lead group discussions.”

Webre said RELIC sponsors these programs all across the state.

“The effort is to offer communities access to scholarly work and discussion,” Webre said. 

Hankins hopes the program will jumpstart an oral history project with hurricane survivors in Louisiana.

Pre-registration is recommended for the program, but participation is free and open to the public.