Minority Community Resilience and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case Study of the Gullah Geechee Community

Ladan Ghahramani,Katelin Mcardle,Sandra Fatorić

doi:10.3390/su12062266

Ladan Ghahramani, Katelin Mcardle + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062266

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Abstract

The Gullah Geechee community of the south-eastern United States endures today as a minority group with a significant cultural heritage. However, little research has been conducted to explore this community’s resilience in the face of climate change and other environmental impacts. The database Web of Science was searched and 109 publications on the Gullah Geechee community were identified. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyzed the publications to identify patterns and primary research themes related to the Gullah Geechee community’s resilience. Findings revealed that Gullah Geechee‘s cultural heritage is vulnerable to climatic and societal changes, but can also be a source for enhancing community resilience and promoting more sustainable community-led heritage and tourism developments. A framework is proposed for building community resilience in the context of minority and/or marginalized communities (e.g., Gullah Geechee). This study highlights the urgent need to not only better understand and incorporate a community’s economic dimensions and losses in various decision- and policy-making processes but also their cultural and social dimensions and losses. This systematic analysis can help inform both heritage preservation and community-led tourism practices and policies related to the Gullah Geechee community, as well as help direct new research efforts focusing on minority and/or marginalized community resilience.

Highlights

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of people who were captured along the western coast of Africa and enslaved on rice-producing plantations in the Lowcountry, primarily in Georgia and South Carolina, United States
Until the 1950s, when bridges were built to connect the Sea Islands to the mainland, the islands were more difficult to access, which resulted in the development of a language, identity, and way of life that was unique to the Gullah community [2]
We summarize findings from the systematic review in two main research themes focusing on building community resilience

Summary

Introduction

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of people who were captured along the western coast of Africa and enslaved on rice-producing plantations in the Lowcountry, primarily in Georgia and South Carolina, United States. The Gullah Geechee community continued to inhabit and farm these coastal plains and Sea Islands after slavery was abolished by the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865 [1]. Until the 1950s, when bridges were built to connect the Sea Islands to the mainland, the islands were more difficult to access, which resulted in the development of a language, identity, and way of life that was unique to the Gullah community [2]. Before the construction of modern bridges allowing regular and convenient access, Gullah Geechee people residing in the Sea Islands were isolated and able to maintain their culture in close-knit, rural communities [4]. Over the last few decades, the Gullah Geechee community faced cultural displacement from threats of development, climate change, and access to natural resources, placing at risk the heritage that they contribute socio-culturally and economically to the region of the south-eastern U.S, while bringing forth a necessity for resilience, and shaping the culture into its present iteration

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