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"This is a captivating, valuable book. Using effective qualitative methods, it provides a clear and insightful window into the intimate experiences of mothers in a disaster and how their decision-making processes are influenced by parenting ideals, identity, schools, and community. A highly welcome addition to our understanding of disasters."—Alice Fothergill, author of Heads above Water
"This gripping, highly readable book illuminates the costs of disasters—and climate change—for family life. In Too Deep vividly shows the fierce efforts by upper-middle-class mothers to be 'guardians of stability' for their families, even in the middle of a flood, as they 'curate' a life for their children. This curation is exhausting and has surprising consequences. As with the best studies, the book also helps us understand why rational people make inexplicable decisions—in this case, to put themselves in the pathway of a likely, future flood. Highly recommended."—Annette Lareau, author of Unequal Childhoods
"An illuminating examination of the complex mixture of privilege, pain, and pressure that shapes the experiences of mothers trying desperately to hold onto a flood-prone community. As the climate crisis deepens, we need this book for all it teaches us about the labor of women and mothers and the burdens they bear, as well as the attachments that complicate decisions to stay put or get out of harm's way."—Rebecca Elliott, author of Underwater: Loss, Flood Insurance, and the Moral Economy of Climate Change in the United States
"Very powerful. Rachel Kimbro's argument is innovative and important, and the stories in In Too Deep have stayed in my mind long after reading it."—Sarah Bowen, Professor of Sociology, North Carolina State University
"Kimbro is a talented storyteller. Her compelling analysis, thick descriptions, and lively writing style make this a powerful read."—Caitlyn Collins, author of Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving
List of contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Choosing Bayou Oaks
Are We in Pleasantville?
2. Storm Preparations
I Had It All Planned Out before
It Even Happened
3. During the Storm
Get These Babies Out of the Water
4. Storm Recovery
You Can Feel Sorry for Yourself When
the Work’s Done
5. Family Impacts
This Past Year Has Really Been So Wretched
6. To Stay or Go
Does Anyone Think This Is Crazy?
Conclusion
Methodological Appendix
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Rachel Tolbert Kimbro is Professor of Sociology at Rice University.
Summary
In a small Texas neighborhood, an affluent group of mothers has been repeatedly rocked by catastrophic flooding—the 2015 Memorial Day flood, the 2016 Tax Day flood, and sixteen months later, Hurricane Harvey. Yet even after these disrupting events, almost all mothers in this neighborhood still believe there is only one place for them to live: Bayou Oaks.
In Too Deep is a sociological exploration of what happens when climate change threatens the carefully curated family life of upper-middle-class mothers. Through in-depth interviews with thirty-six Bayou Oaks mothers whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey, Rachel Kimbro reveals why these mothers continued to stay in a place that was becoming more and more unstable. Rather than retreating, the mothers dug in and sustained the community they have chosen and nurtured, trying to keep social, emotional, and economic instability at bay. In Too Deep provides a glimpse into how class and place intersect in an unstable physical environment and underlines the price families pay for securing their futures.
