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    Katrina and the Waves: Bad Organization, Natural Evil or The State 
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    Katrina and the Waves: Bad Organization, Natural Evil or The State

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    Published Version
    Embargoed until: 2100-01-01
    Reason: VoR
    Volume
    14
    Pagination
    113 - 133
    DOI
    10.1080/14759550802079234
    Journal
    Culture and Organization
    Issue
    2
    ISSN
    1475-9551
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This paper considers Deleuze and Guattari's notions of the smooth and the striated as a basis for rethinking the events of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans in September 2005. It is argued here that popular narratives of Katrina, and perspectives on disaster from the field of organization studies, have tended to be conditioned by a long-standing and restrictive dualism between 'man' (organization) and 'nature' (disorganization), and an associated, anthropocentric moral framework. By contrast, Deleuze and Guattari are seen to offer a set of concepts relating to spatial and material patterns of organization which allow us to move beyond such a conceptual dualism towards other ways of thinking the events of Katrina. Furthermore, they are also understood to have provided the basis for some radical reflections on the role of the State in the reproduction of a particular material and conceptual logic of disaster management and planning. According to an application of their concepts of the smooth and the striated, Katrina is described here, not according to notions of natural disorder, but as a Deleuzo-Guattarian 'war machine', operating according to an alien mode of organization to that of the State. It is this encounter, between two irreducibly different modes of organization, which is seen to account for both its extreme 'catastrophic' effects, and for some of the unusual organizational phenomena occurring in its aftermath. In contrast to some recent papers in the field of organization studies that have tended to treat Deleuze and Guattari's work in abstract and theoretical terms, this paper proposes to make a distinctive contribution to this Deleuzo-Guattarian 'turn' by situating, or putting to work, their thought in the context of Katrina as an empirical event.
    Authors
    Curtis, R
    URI
    https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/246
    Collections
    • School of Business and Management [697]
    Copyright statements
    © Taylor and Francis
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