1. Coastal Citizenship: ConsideringCulture in ConservationA Case Study from Harris Neck, GA (USA)Jolvan MorrisNOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Science CenterSavannah State UniversityDistinguished Lecture SeriesFall 2014 2. Georgias cultural landscapeThe Gullah/Geechee people of theLow Country and the Sea Islandsare a distinctive people Only African Americanpopulation in the USrecognized as a nationGullah Geechee Nation 2014 Tradition that depends on bothmaritime and land resourcesThe history of the Sea Islands isintertwined with considerations ofrace, ethnicity, and class. Tight-knit barrier islandcommunities established byFreedmen after the Civil War 3. Harris Neck in context 19422,687 acres of land takenfor use during WWII 1962Department of Interiorestablishes Wildlife refuge Sense of Place Being African American andGullah/Geechee MaritimeOccupations andSubsistence fishing EnvironmentalJusticemovement 4. How do we move toward a more comprehensiveunderstanding of the human-dimension ofconservation issues?LINKING RESEARCH, PRACTICE AND RESOURCEMANAGEMENT TO THE REALITY OF HARRIS NECKRESIDENTS 5. The Role of Traditional Knowledge (TK) Local knowledge and cultural memory are crucial for theconservation of biodiversity because both serve asrepositories of alternative choices that keep cultural andbiological diversity flourishingNazarea 2006 Giving voice to those underserved by history 6. Reconciling TK with hard science Recent interest andimplementation Highly debated Legitimacy, Validity,Authenticity Identifying ExpertsFairhead & Leach 1996, Espeland & Stevens1998, Nazarea 2006As HS scholars, researchers,and professionals it isimportant that weremember that ourperspective is a privilegedone. TK is scientific knowledgethat is not objective orcontext-free 7. Data and MethodQualitative Data collected over a six-month period Participant observation at community meetings Literature Searches Stakeholder Surveys Semi-structured interviews and Oral historiesDigital audiorecordings Zoom HandyRecorder H2Transcription ~four hours oftranscription timefor each hour ofinterview 10 hours of audiocollected to dateCoding 4 coders NVivo 10 According tomajor and sub-topicareas 8. Oral HistoriesParticipants 9 individuals (7 men, 2 women) African-American Snowball and Gate-keeper recruitment techniques Elders with knowledge of life on Harris Neck before and after1942 9. Pastor Timmonshis business was very successfuland it grew to thepoint where he had to build a bigger factory and oystersback in that time was a very, very, very, very lucrativebusiness to be into and it was eaten by so manystillarehe uh he had I think it was 12 boats,12 of the community resident pickingfor him, and about 16 of the femalesshucking16 to 20 and that was in the smallerfactory. A gentleman by the name of Mr. Tummer, fromSavannah was his distributor he would comedown and from Savannah and theywould load the gallons of oysters into Mr.Tummer old truck and he would ice them down and headback to Savannah, where hed distribute them allover the Southeasternpart of Georgia.Well, as I said that grewthat grew and he built the biggerfactory which employed about 34 shuckers and I think itwas like 26 or 27 pickers. These gentlemen werevery, very skillful oyster pickersBusiness and Economics ofFishing Processoremployment Business organization Gender roles Selling the catch 10. If you stand up, you should be able to seea cedar treeMy granddad was a great preserver; theoyster shells that came out of the factory after the girlsshuck the oyster out of them, they would put back in theboats and they would carry them to different areas andspread them out along those banks so that theywouldspats would attach themselves tothose shells, and new oysters would comeforth. The finest kind and that was the methodwhen we came up they taught us how todo the same thing. They taught us to do that aswell as going up on the banks and taking the little oystersand spreading them all over the bank so that they wouldhave room to growthis is where about twenty-six boats would comeup. The dock was out here, they would tie theirboats up to the dock and one by one theywould unload into the big bin. Theywould lift that bin up, it would go intoup on alittle rail and by that rail they would push theminto the oyster house where they would be put outonto the floor and they would a shovel to put themup on the oyster shelf for the ladies to shuck. Andlike I was saying, it was about forty-fivehead ofwomen working the factory andmade a good living during thewinter time to help sustain thefamily financially and that went onlike I said until 33 when Majona moved in.Business and Economics of Fishing Fish processing Processor employment Earnings, revenue,profitabilitySocial and Cultural Characteristics Gender roles Training to be a fishermanFisheries Management Conservation measuresTiger Bluff 11. Mr. Dunhammy daddy was a boat builder as well asa fisherman and every day I would go outand itseemed like it was every day and I would do whateverDaddy was doing or whatever he asked me to do, I did it.And he taught me how to make the nets.So then you have your shrimp net, andyou have whats called a mullet net. Thatsjust a different another fish they have. Your mullet net,and then your cast netits another form of net that youuse to catch mullet and all the different kinds of fishes.And I learned that and I learned how to build it, to makethe net and whatever it was that we had to make. And Istayed home and then Daddy died in 49and I was not home very much after that,you know I just stayed and come and go. But we hadour property not too far from where ourhouse was, just outside of the gate so tospeak and then Daddy bought some land there and wejusthe stayed there and I would go back home to see himand check on to see how he was doing and so on and soforth. But I did whatever we had to do and my sonlearned the trade and others have learned the tradeand it has really paid off for us, even until today.We did not have a leveler. A leveler tells youwhen the boat is level and when it is not. But hed usea bullet, and a bullet is a piece of lead that had a piece ofstring on the end of it and in the bow of the boat it wasmaybe about ten, twelve, maybe about twelvefourteeninches that the bows came up; and hed take a nail and putat the end of that bow and in the back of the boat, the backpart of it he had some pieces of board and he made sure thatthat board was level the best he could. But the purposeof that bullet up at the top, it tells whether theboat was listingthe boat was listing to the right or to theleft.Gear and Fishing Technology Boats Cast nets Gill netsSocial and Cultural Characteristics Training to build boats Values Place attachment Ownership 12. Mrs. EvelynYeah, later we made some more kinda nets to catch themin, but we werethe children werebreadwinners too, you knowthe father andthe children had to go school one time. We didnt get toschool as much as our parents would desire us to becausewe had to help with the food and the field work. Mamadidnt let us go in the field; papa wouldtake the boys, and the girls would stayin the house with mother learning how to clean house,wash, cook, iron. The boys go in the field and make thecrop and stuff and when the harvest is made, Mama tookthe girls and we picked the peas, shelled the peas, picked thecorn, and shell the cornsent it to the market to grind tomake grits and meal and stuff, but all of usworked.Social and CulturalCharacteristics Family roles Gender roles Education Values 13. I feel like Im a survivor. I thinkthat one thing I knew that HarrisNeck did for me, made me aprovider I can sufferbut I think going to church and my pastor there, theydont know yet today what they did for me. Theymade me who I am, helped me be who Iam. If it wasnt for them, I believe I would grow up justmeanhatefulwhen I looked back at my home in flamesand her crying and trying to hold mymomma back so she wouldnt try to get thereI wouldnt wish that on my meanestenemybut sometimes I make myself thinkabout it so Ill know the difference between loveand hate, because that kind of stuff I went through, I could haveeasily grow up, grown up right now like Im talking to you, Icould be telling you, calling names, hate, I cant stand themIcant stand this, but thank God I can love themSocial and CulturalCharacteristics Religion Social StratificationGould Cemetery 14. Research, Practice, and ManagementWhat happens when a story is imposed upon acommunity? Participatory research De-professionalized intellectuals in practice Enhance the validity of those stories through authentic engagementHarris 2001 15. Research, Practice, and ManagementBalancing TEK in Resource ManagementContextualRealitiesHard ScienceExpectationsPast &Current UsesManagementSystemsFactualObservationsWorldviewCulture &IdentityEthics &ValuesThe six faces of traditional knowledgeaccording to Houde 2007. 16. Discussion Addressingenvironmental conflictwith culturalcompetence Informed proactiveapproaches to navigatestakeholder conflicts Perception matters Risk Communication Stakeholder Voice Building social capital Understandingstakeholder decisionsto exit/enter/remain inparticular maritimeprofessionsExperienceIdentityEmotionIndividualBehaviorSocialMovementInterlinked Concepts in TEK and Memorywork according to Nazarea 2006 17. AcknowledgementsMembers of the Harris Neck Community who continue toparticipate in and support this workNOAA Living Marine ResourcesCooperative Science CenterOtis JohnsonDionne HoskinsNikki RechMarine Science Faculty and StudentsAsa H Gordon Library 18. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!morrisjt@savannahstate.edu912-358-3287MSCI 7855 Special Topics:Environmental Risk CommunicationsRisk communication is the assisted dialogamong individual, communities, andorganizations responsible for/affected byenvironmental issues. We will explore riskcommunication from the scientificperspective, but also from psychological,social, and cultural perspectives. 19. ReferencesEspeland, W.N. and M. L. Stevens.(1998). Commensuration as a social process. AnnualReview of Sociology 24: 313-343.Fairhead, J. and M. Leach.(1996). Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecologyof a Savanna Mosaic. New York: Cambridge University Press.Harris, R.P. (2001). Hidden Voices: Linking Research, Practice and Policy to the EverydayRealities of Rural People. Southern Rural Sociology 17: 1-11.Houde, N. (2007). The Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Challenges andOpportunities for Canadian Co-Management Arrangements.Nazarea, V.D. (2006). Local Knowledge and Memory in Biodiversity Conservation. AnnualReview of Applied Anthropology 35: 317-335.