DESTRUCTIONMENT: GATES & FAKES INVADE THE GULLAH/GEECHEE’S SEA ISLANDS By RYAN THOMSON A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2019 © 2019 Ryan Thomson To Lauren, Neal, Patrick, and Kyle Thomson. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Queen Quet, Ms. Brown, Abeena, Tiffany, Ed, and Ricky for their numerous inputs and insights during our collaboration. I thank my committee; Dr. Stephen Perz, Queen Quet, Dr. Christine Overdevest, Dr. Robert Walker, Dr. Raffaele Vacca, and Dr. Allison Adams. I also thank Mom, Dad, Grandpa Pat, Kyle, Mino, Dr. Lindsay Leban, Dr. Laura McKinney, Dr. Samuels-Jones, Dr. Michael Schulman, Dr. Dick Reavis, Dr. Brett Clark, Dr. Ed Kick, Dr. Clifford Griffin, and Dr. Cynthia Simmons for their years of the support. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................7 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..........................................................................................................9 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................12 Society and Community .........................................................................................................17 Weber ..............................................................................................................................19 Durkheim .........................................................................................................................22 Rural Sociology ......................................................................................................................25 Black Land Matters .................................................................................................................28 Environmental Justice Studies .........................................................................................29 Gentrification ...................................................................................................................33 Organization of the Dissertation .............................................................................................39 2 GULLAH/GEECHEE STUDIES ...........................................................................................42 Introduction .............................................................................................................................42 Colonialism As War ........................................................................................................42 Civil War .........................................................................................................................45 Reconstruction .................................................................................................................46 Culture ....................................................................................................................................49 Language .........................................................................................................................51 Social Organization .........................................................................................................53 Subsistence ......................................................................................................................54 Bridges & Heirs ......................................................................................................................55 Changing Tides ................................................................................................................58 Gullah/Geechee Studies ...................................................................................................59 3 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................65 Engaging the Gullah/Geechee for Research ...........................................................................65 Participatory Action Research .........................................................................................67 Situated Solidarities .........................................................................................................70 Developing the Research Questions .......................................................................................71 Data Collection ................................................................................................................73 5 Coding and Analysis ........................................................................................................75 4 GATES AND FAKES: PERCEPTIONS OF THE SEA ISLAND INVASION ....................78 The Gates of Destructionment ................................................................................................81 Ruin Along the Sound .....................................................................................................83 Destructionment and Poverty on the Sea Islands ............................................................85 Intentionality of Laws Changing .....................................................................................89 Fakes: Misappropriated Caricatures “Neither Gullah, Nor Geechee” ....................................91 Conclusions.............................................................................................................................96 5 FISHING WHILE BLACK ....................................................................................................99 Denial of Physical Access ....................................................................................................100 Denial of Legal Access .........................................................................................................102 Competition With Outsiders .................................................................................................106 Dependency ..........................................................................................................................108 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................112 6 LAYERS OF FAMILY ........................................................................................................115 Layers of Family ...................................................................................................................115 Kinship ..........................................................................................................................116 Neighborhood ................................................................................................................117 Friendship ......................................................................................................................118 Religion .........................................................................................................................119 Graduating Class ...........................................................................................................120 Subsistence ...........................................................................................................................121 Conclusions...........................................................................................................................122 7 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................124 Corroding Community Customs ...........................................................................................126 Future Research ....................................................................................................................128 Implications for Sustaining Activism ...................................................................................130 APPENDIX FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW GUIDE ..............................................................138 LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................140 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................146 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 2–1 Historical Timeline of the Sea Islands ...............................................................................63 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 2–1 Bibliometric Network Summary of Gullah keyword search via Thomson Reuters Web of Science Database ...................................................................................................64 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DNR The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources EJ Environmental Justice PAR Participatory Action Research 9 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy