ABSTRACT

“Crescent City,” “Big Easy,” and the “City that Care Forgot”—New Orleans is known by many names, and both political administrations and the tourism industry know how to capitalize on the city’s reputation as fun-filled, exciting, and unique place. As one of the top ten most visited cities in the United States, New Orleans’s economy heavily relies on tourism revenues. Visitors come for different reasons, but they all have certain images and ideas about the city at the Gulf of Mexico which may or may not correlate with reality. Like some of its nicknames suggest, the “City that Care Forgot” has been known best for its spectacular, at times unbridled nightlife as well as its rich musical heritage and delicious exotic food. An every bit as important unique selling proposition is New Orleans’s diverse ethnocultural history, attributing to its image as the most African or northernmost Caribbean City (Kemp 1997). Its multicultural heritage has both fascinated and at times frightened visitors for more than two hundred years. Though “its history, full of romantic incident and legendary lore is in itself sufficient to fill a volume” (Jewell 1874), this chapter focuses on the role of New Orleans’s ethnically diverse culture, its utilization in current tourism marketing efforts, and the concurrent (de)construction of ethnic identities, specifically the Creole 1 identity. Starting out with a brief historical retrospect on the origins of New Orleans’s diversity, the chapter will then discuss the present commodification of multiculturalism in New Orleans’s tourism industry, particularly after Hurricane Katrina, and the debate over the “essence” of racial and ethnocultural identities and identity politics within this context.