Every year around this time, New Orleans clads itself in the green, purple, and gold of carnival, which culminates in Mardi Gras. But the celebration is much more than a bacchanalia—it’s a citywide expression of community. In this episode, we speak to a guest intimately familiar with these traditions, especially how they play out in the city’s Black communities.
Released on February 20, 2025.
Episode transcript
Guest
Kim Vaz-Deville, a scholar in residence at Dillard University in New Orleans, conducts research on the lives of African Americans in New Orleans from the early 20th century to the present. As the 2023–2024 Lillian Gollay Knafel Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, she worked on her second book about New Orleans Black Mardi Gras traditions, “The Art of Resistance.”
Related Content
Online Exhibition: Mystery in Motion: African American Masking and Spirituality in Mardi Gras
Fellowship Biography: Kim Vaz-Deville
Fellow’s Presentation: The Art of Resistance: Sacred Visual Creations of New Orleans’ African American Mardi Gras Maskers
The “Baby Dolls”: Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition (LSU Press, 2023)
Credits
Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine.
Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI.
Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI.
Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI.
Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student.
Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student.
Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI.
Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media, including sound engineer Jeff Hayash and editors Katie Toulmin and Justin Callahan, for their contributions to the production and editing of this episode.

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