Louisiana Sea Grant Coastal Change Oral Histories Project

Size: 20 interviews on 20 recordings

Time period covered: 1920s - 2010s

Dates of interviews: 2012,2013

Finding Aids: Abstracts, indexes

Audio Availability: MP3

Processing Status: All interviews are cataloged

Access Restrictions: See individual abstracts

Description: Louisiana's coast is washing away at an alarming rate, and as the land disappears, residents are effected economically and culturally. In 2012, Louisiana Sea Grant partnered with the Williams Center and implemented an oral history project in which high school students in South Louisiana recorded information on coastal change and explored the implications of this change on their communities. One primary goal of the project, beyond creating primary resources documenting this phenomenon, was to increase environmental literacy among students who live in communities at risk and to engage them in a stewardship project that would help them interact with community elders through the use of oral history.

Interviewees in this series discuss climate change, eroding coastlines and wetlands, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, dredging, channelization, dwindling biodiversity, coastal restoration projects, the BP oil spill, pollution, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and Hurricanes Andrew, Audrey, Ike, Isaac, Katrina and Rita. Many also discuss the sugarcane industry, hunting, fishing and trapping, their families and childhoods, and the culture of their local communities.

Interview Abstracts

Hyperlinked interviews are available for access/duplication through Public Services.