This post is part of a new series titled, “COVID Recollections.” The series features stories, dispatches, and reflections from the COVID-19 American History Project, a Congressionally funded initiative to create an archive of Americans’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this post, guest authors Sara T. Bernstein and Elise Chatelain, members of Dismantle Media and Culture Alliance, describe their work documenting the COVID-19 experiences of service and hospitality workers in New Orleans. Dismantle received a contract from the American Folklife Center to undertake this research as part of the COVID-19 American History Project.
Part I
It’s a warm, unseasonably dry November morning in New Orleans. We park on a quiet street of cottages and bungalows in the Gentilly neighborhood. It isn’t hard to guess our destination: the bright purple door frame and lingering Halloween decorations give it away. Three of us—Elise Chatelain, Sara Bernstein and videographer Justin Micaroni—unload our lights and recording equipment. We walk up the porch steps and knock on the door. When Luke, our eleventh oral history participant, lets us inside, we set up and take in the surroundings. A friendly dog and lots of children’s toys make for a cozy living room. We collectively admire the vintage circus posters and gaze around at the masks, sequins, juggling pins, and stilts tucked into corners and on shelves. In a specially-built extension off the kitchen, a trapeze and long silk ropes hang from a vaulted ceiling. In other words, it’s a typical day in the life of oral historians in New Orleans.
Who We Are
Our conversation with Luke, a stilt walker, circus performer, and musician, was one of twenty interviews we conducted for the COVID-19 American History Project. In November 2023, we gathered stories from New Orleanians working in food and beverage service, hospitality, entertainment, and other tourism sectors whose lives and livelihoods were impacted by the pandemic.
The project was contracted through Dismantle, a writing and research agency we founded through our shared belief that stories have the power to make a better world. While this was the first oral history project completed under the Dismantle umbrella, we’ve been doing collaborative social and cultural research for over fifteen years. After earning our doctorates in cultural studies at UC Davis, we continued to write and publish together and eventually founded Dismantle Magazine, a space for scholars, artists, and activists to develop and share ideas outside of traditional academic circles.
Since graduate school, most of our work as a team has happened while living on opposite sides of the country. Elise is a New Orleans-area native. In addition to her academic career, she has worked in the city for many years as a server, bartender, and food and beverage manager. She and Justin—her partner, and our videographer on this project—together ran his bar and café for nearly twelve years. Justin continues to work in the city’s restaurant and hospitality industries, and has an extensive social and professional network. He played an important role as a key informant and secondary interviewer, providing valuable insight and culturally relevant questions.
Sara has also worked in