Kim Vaz-Deville, Ph.D. is a professor of education and the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Xavier University of Louisiana. Her area of research centers on the use of expressive arts as a response to large group social trauma with attention to women, gender, and insurgency.
Dr. Vaz-Deville’s book, The ‘Baby Dolls’: Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition (LSU Press, 2013), tells the story of an organization of African American women, the Baby Dolls, formed around 1912 and their crucial contribution to Louisiana’s cultural history. She traces the Baby Dolls’ origins from Storyville brothels and dance halls to their re-emergence in post-Katrina New Orleans and uncovers the fascinating history of the “raddy-walking, shake-dancing, cigar-smoking, money-flinging” ladies who strutted their way into the predominantly male establishment of the Mardi Gras parades. This book was chosen by the Young Leadership Council (YLC) members and book-loving New Orleanians as the "
One Book One New Orleans" title for 2016!
Fee: $25
