Swamp Surburbia and Rebellion Against a Culture of Crime: The Birth Of Black Skateboarding in the Big Easy

• Main Author: Edwards, Aubrey
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UNO 2015
• Subjects: African American; black; youth; urban space; skateboarding; New Orleans; Hurricane Katrina; Other Anthropology; Social and Cultural Anthropology; Urban Studies and Planning
• Online Access: http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1968; http://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3099&context=td

This research addresses a significant gap in previous work on the formation of urban and suburban black skateboarding subcultures. By using data generated through oral histories, photographs, mapping, and literature review, this study explores why black youth initially began skateboarding in New Orleans in the mid-2000s. In contrast to the scholarly literature and local popular perception, this visual anthropological study aims to provide an alternative origin story of black skateboarding in Post-Katrina New Orleans, and to examine the continuing popularity of the sport within the young black community.