COMMUNICATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND CULTURAL PRESERVATION: THE CASE OF GULLAH HISTORY AND CULTURE ON JAMES ISLAND, SC Brian Andrew Graves A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Advisor: Dr. Ken Hillis Reader: Dr. Carole Blair Reader: Dr. William Ferris Reader: Dr. Jeremy Packer Reader: Dr. Sarah Sharma © 2010 Brian Andrew Graves ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT BRIAN GRAVES: Communication, Development, and Cultural Preservation: The Case of Gullah History and Culture on James Island, SC (Under the direction of Ken Hillis) This dissertation explores contemporary issues of communication, commercial development, and Gullah preservation on James Island, South Carolina. All along the coastal region of the Southeastern United States, African American communities, known as ―Gullah,‖ have retained more of their African cultural and linguistic heritage than any other large African American community. From the times of slavery to the present, Gullah communities have lived in a Southeastern coastal landscape remarkably similar to the shores of Western Africa. During the later part of the twentieth century, however, ―modern‖ suburban, commercial, and resort developments have transformed the region‘s physical, social, and economic geographies and threatened the culture‘s survival. In the wake of these developments, efforts to preserve Gullah culture have emerged, often with an emphasis on tourism, news, and entertainment projects designed to merge economic and cultural activity. The central thesis of this dissertation is that while forces of ―development‖ and ―cultural preservation‖ often appear to be at odds in popular discourse, they are actually different sides of the same coin in so far as they are a forced contextualization of people and places within systems of knowledge and communication that privilege modern European conceptions of history, politics, economics, and culture. Missing in the iii dominant social imagery of Gullah culture today, which either portrays a people who are behind the curve of modern progress, or, that evokes nostalgia for a now ―obsolete‖ way of life, is an adequate representation of the present and ongoing struggle of Gullah history, identity, and sense of place. By looking at specific and concrete situations of development and cultural preservation on James Island, the chapters of this dissertation examine how Gullah communities themselves articulate their own history and culture, and define their roles as political actors in the modern world, both through and against dominant modern conceptions of history, culture, politics, economics, and communication. Through a locally oriented cultural political economy approach, the study also seeks to understand, through the work of cultural theorists James Carey and Harold Innis, among others, how culture as a concept can be used to develop a more detailed and fruitful analysis of the political and economic problems of communication, modern development, and cultural preservation. iv For Toby & In memory of Allan Graves v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing this study would have been impossible without the guidance and support of many people. First, I would like to thank the people with whom I collaborated on my ethnographic work. In addition to those whom I have cited within the pages of this dissertation, there are many more people than I can name here who provided valuable insights and contributions for this project. Thank you your kindness and hospitality, for teaching me, and for being patient while I learned. By educating me, you have shaped my life in important and meaningful ways. With deepest gratitude, I thank my advisor, Ken Hillis, who gave me thoughtful guidance and strong support for my dissertation work and throughout my graduate program. As a brilliant scholar, mentor, and friend, Ken has made a big difference in my life, and I am forever grateful. He has seen this dissertation through many drafts. I do not know how I can ever repay him for the tremendous amount of time, energy, and knowledge that he has shared with me and invested in my work except to ―pay it forward.‖ I have enjoyed working with an excellent dissertation committee: Carole Blair, Bill Ferris, Jeremy Packer, and Sarah Sharma. I am always impressed with Carole‘s willingness and ability to work with more graduate students than any other faculty in our Department and consider myself very fortunate to be among them. Carole is a highly accomplished scholar with tremendous stature, yet also manages to be remarkably vi approachable and generous with her time. In addition to providing excellent guidance and support for my graduate work, she has frequently invited me and other students to her home, taken us on field trips, and worked hard to connect us with opportunities in the field of Communication Studies. Studying with the renowned folklorist and historian Bill Ferris has been a heady experience. Though Bill is well-known, in high demand, and has ―hung out‖ with the likes of B.B. King and Eudora Welty, he is also incredibly unassuming, friendly, and disarming. I am awed and inspired by the beauty and eloquence of his scholarship and filmmaking, and regard them both as standards of excellence toward which I aspire. Jeremy Packer and Sarah Sharma, in addition to being wonderful people, are superb teachers and scholars. I am grateful for their assistance and insights, which helped me enormously with my work, particularly in understanding and applying difficult Communications theory and developing my dissertation‘s methodology. I thank the Communication Studies faculty and staff, my fellow graduate students, and my students for their support, friendship, and countless rewarding intellectual experiences at Carolina. It is impossible to name everyone here, but several people deserve special mention: Mark Robinson has been a great friend, colleague, and mentor, offering me personal and professional assistance and advice throughout my graduate study. I feel so lucky to have met him, and cannot imagine having done my graduate work without him. Raphael Ginsberg has been my ―COMMrade‖ ever since we entered the Master‘s program together in 2003. Together we have enjoyed dazzling intellectual exchanges, surpassed the highest expectations of our colleagues, and completely reinvented the field of Communication Studies. I am also grateful to Vilma Berg, who vii has been extraordinarily kind and helpful in assisting me with funding and administrative issues and keeping me on track with deadlines. I thank my mother, Lynn Graves, for her love and support. In addition to giving me a place to stay while I conducted my research, she has encouraged me, believed in me, and offered me wise counsel. She has been a great listener and friend, and is always able to make me laugh, even in the toughest of times. She is my role model of character, strength, reliability, and hard work. Finally, I thank my fiancé, Toby Weisslitz, who has made my life complete. I am so fortunate to have found such a smart, funny, warm, and beautiful person with whom to spend the rest of my life. She has loved, helped, supported, and guided me in countless ways through the daily struggles and challenges of life. I will always be there for her, as she has been for me. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION: COMMUNICATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF GULLAH HISTORY AND CULTURE ON JAMES ISLAND, SC ................................................................... 1 Personal Trajectory and Research Period ............................................................... 9 Research Materials and Method ............................................................................. 12 Historical Method .................................................................................................. 12 Ethnographic Method............................................................................................. 15 Communication Theory ......................................................................................... 17 Chapter Summaries ................................................................................................ 20 II. A CULTURAL HISTORY OF LANDOWNERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT ON JAMES ISLAND, SC ............................................... 27 Background ........................................................................................................... 28 Communication and Colonization .......................................................................... 35 Agricultural Development and Gullah culture ........................................................ 40 Communication and Real Estate Development ....................................................... 51 Real Estate Development in African American Communities: A Cultural Perspective .................................................................... 57 Local Media and Development in Sol Legare and Grmball Farm ................................................................................ 63 ix Communication and the Future of Development on James Island ................................................................................ 69 III. COMMUNICATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF SOL LEGARE‘S SEASHORE FARMER‘S LODGE 767 ...............................