This paper builds on more than 10 years’ ethnographic field research on post-Katrina neighborhood recovery of New Orleans, USA and post-earthquake reconstruction of ethnic communities of Wenchuan, China, providing a comparative analysis of neoliberal manipulation and state intervention in disaster management from the vantage point of anthropology. Showcasing the extremely unbalanced recovery of New Orleans’ Uptown and Lower Nineth neighborhoods, the research investigates the consequences of the neoliberal socioeconomic restructuring of the most culturally and politically contested American southern city. Following the Chinese state-led post-earthquake cultural recovery of the ethnic Qiang communities, the fieldwork in Wenchuan explores the trajectory of the socialist modernization experiments for China’s ethnic minorities. The two extremely divergent case studies have touched upon the most essential topics in disaster anthropology. Failed disaster response in New Orleans has resulted from the deliberate neglect and misrepresentation of local knowledge and networks of social relations (e.g. kinship systems, neighborhoods, nature of occupations, and residential spaces) by expert knowledge or technical rationalism. The theory of "disaster capitalism" critiques the impact of economic "rationalism" based on the cost-benefit principles on disaster response and decolonializing processes. On the other hand, the rescue and preservation of local cultures in post-disaster situations is often seen as an obstacle to the need for modernization. The excessive pursuit of policy efficiency and economic effectiveness has led policy makers and planners to overlook the importance of rebuilding humane social networks and cultural practices. Connecting New Orleans experience with that of Wenchuan, this paper reflects on the potentials and problems of state intervention and neoliberal reform in disaster management. More hopefully, the research strives to provide a comparative anthropological approach to investigate the common pressing issues in contemporary world society.
