Summer 2016: Racial tensions, protests, politics, and natural disasters flooded Baton Rouge, LA. One year later: Baton Rouge SLAM! An Obituary for Summer 2016 was staged. This ethnography weaves slam poetry, poet interviews, and community narratives to trace how times of crisis can be transformed into powerful live performance.

Written for lovers of performance, theater, slam poetry, ethnography, and cultural studies, this project travels between scholarship and stage. Engaging social justice movements, race, policing, and documentary storytelling, this book offers:

• Historical accounts of Baton Rouge during summer 2016.
• Explorations of slam poetry and performance ethnography as cultural practice.
• The full performance script of Baton Rouge SLAM!
• Reflections on ethically staging real events and lived experiences.