How Did New Orleans Become New Orleans? (Part One) with Dr. Kathryn Olivarius

Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Sony Music

Society & Culture, Comedy, Education, Self-improvement

4.9 • 21.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 May 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New Orleans is a city in a swamp—a city, some argue, that should have never been built. So how did it become one of America’s most important sites in the 1800s, and a critical battleground in the American Civil War? This week, to mark the new season of Queer Eye, we’re exploring New Orleans history with Dr. Kathryn Olivarius in a special two-part episode. Today, we’re breaking down the basics on antebellum New Orleans. Tomorrow, we’ll learn all about New Orleans’ rampant history of yellow fever. A note from the team: this episode discusses enslavement and references to bodily harm. Kathryn Olivarius is a prizewinning historian of slavery, medicine, and disease. She is Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University. Her book Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom, published by Harvard University Press, was recently awarded the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize. You can follow Dr. Olivarius on Twitter @katolivarius. Harvard University Press is on Twitter @Harvard_Press. If you’re new to Getting Curious, here are some episodes that are relevant to today’s discussion: When Viruses Spread, Who’s Most Vulnerable? What’s The Sordid History Of U.S. Trash Collection? Who Does America’s “Child Welfare System” Serve? Who Built The Panama Canal? How F$^*#d Up Is Fatphobia? Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from past Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn; we’ll be updating it soon with more releases! Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our editor is Andrew Carson. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Chris McClure, and Emily Bossak. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Getting Curious. This is Jonathan Viennes and every week I sit down with a brilliant
0:09.5	expert tour on all about something that makes me curious. Today to mark the New Season of
0:13.8	Queer Eye, yay! Finally happy y'all been asking us a lot. We're exploring the history of New
0:19.2	Orleans. If you're new to getting Curious podcasts, consider this your orientation honey.
0:24.1	I'm going to be referring to some of our favorite episodes throughout this discussion.
0:27.4	Then we link them in the episode description so you can listen to those later on if you're into
0:31.1	that. We have more than 300 conversations about science, history, politics, and beyond waiting for
0:35.8	you in the archives. Get into it. Yeah, as Dodja Katwood say. And if you want to keep up with our
0:41.1	guests and topics and see behind the scenes of the show, even just follow other news stories that
0:45.2	we're kind of keeping up with. You can follow us on Instagram at Curious with JVN. Let's dive in.
0:50.1	This week we have Catherine Oliveiraus who is a prize-winning historian of slavery, medicine,
0:56.2	and disease. She is the assistant professor of history at Stanford University. Okay,
1:01.5	love a title. She was also just awarded the 2023 Frederick Jackson Turner award for her book
1:07.6	Necropolis. Disease, power, and capitalism in the cotton kingdom published by Harvard University
1:14.3	Press. Okay, first of all, Catherine, your resume is giving me like America's next top prestigious
1:20.9	university. It is so good. You're doing so good. We got the Harvard. We got the Stanford. I'm
1:26.1	very impressed. Queen. Catherine, how are you? How's your morning? It's great. How is your morning?
1:32.5	It's good. In real life, this was the day after the Met Gala. So I am thriving. I am always
1:39.4	impressed by my morning personness. I slept till like 830, which is the latest I've ever slept
1:44.9	like in years. And also y'all can't see. But Catherine is giving us a deep side part. She's
1:50.3	giving us fresh face skin, fucking model. We're both glowing and doing our best today, except for
1:56.4	you really look gorgeous. So I'm doing my best. For someone who was at the Met Gala yesterday,
	...

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