Historicizing the Culture of New Orleans through David Simon's Television Drama Series Treme: The Black Mardi Gras Indians

This study examines the process of historicization of the Black Mardi Gras Indians in the HBO drama series Treme produced by David Simon and Eric Overmyer. Grounded in a critical cultural perspective, and relating fiction to reality through historical truth, we analyze the manner in which the producers recreate this minority's collective narrative as cultural performance of struggle and survival in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We base our analysis on series narratives and interviews with members of the Black Mardi Gras Indian (artist) communities. We also rely on local experts and historians using a form of "demystifactory" or "prophetic" criticism in which artists comment on the artistic and historical representations of the Mardi Gras Indians as a unique subculture of the heterogeneous African Diaspora. Our analysis suggests how the Mardi Gras Indians' narrative speaks to the values of resistance and resilience in an otherwise White dominant social order. Further, the characterization of the Mardi Gras Indians reveals an emancipatory and liberative narrative necessary to their cultural survival. Finally, we address limitations of the study and directions for future research