Faith in the Neoliberalisation of Post‐katrina New Orleans

Though it has been over four years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the physical and social geography of the gulf coast in the United States, a great deal of literature still continues to emanate from this event. Much of this literature focuses on how the event embodied a neoliberalised state reaction to the crisis – heavily reliant on charities while actively promoting claims about the government's weakness in the face of such events. Though this literature is useful, it has generally not covered the role of religious charities and their role in the putative neoliberalisation of New Orleans. This paper attempts to explore the role of religious NGOs in the reconstruction of New Orleans. The intent is twofold: first to improve our understanding of this important event; and second to improve our understanding of the complicated role that Faith‐based organisations have played within neoliberal politics and praxis in the United States.