Tag: Subsistence Fishing

Indigenous Ontologies: Gullah Geechee Traditions and Cultural Practices of Abundance

ABSTRACT

Western epistemologies on race defined blackness and indigeneity through scales of poverty, or more precisely, in frameworks privileging economic deprivation. Indigenous fishing communities are typically constructed as subsistence fishers whose practices only served to exacerbate resource scarcity as a result. In this article I use the case study of the Gullah Geechee, self-defined as culturally indigenous and racially black, to explore how consciousness, indigenous knowledge and cultural practices open up resources that enable them to achieve a level of autonomy. I draw on the livelihoods of three fishers, ranging from familial to commercial, to examine how the power of giving, through the cultural practices of reciprocity, sharing and cooperation, yield abundances vital to building a sense of community. This article suggests that indigenous ontologies offer alternate ways to conceptualize indigeneity in the Americas.

Human Ecology Journal

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Fishing for Food

California’s lake and streams. The place of countless bass derbies, catfish tournaments, and trout contests. Contestants come from around the country to participate in events that offer purses close to six figures in some cases. Eager fishers also bring their highly prized tourists dollars. An outcome not lost to state and county economic development strategists. It’s hard to recall that just six months ago Clear Lake reached flood levels that caused county officials to pass an ordinance banning motorized boats. The ban’s purpose was to protect shoreline properties. Clear Lake, a lake with 100-mile shoreline, was closed. Such an action hadn’t occurred in decades, if ever. The local fishing industry was not pleased. County officials convened public meetings. Economic arguments were interspersed with a few comments on public and environmental health. The public in this case translated to sport and recreational fishers. The ones who typically practiced catch and release rather than those that fished for food.

The rains resulted in a renewed abundance of fish in the lake. Although boaters were temporary restricted, shoreline fishers could now stock up on abundances of crappie, blue gill, catfish, bass and crawdads. I often passed groups of families fishing at the state park, also closed to campers due to the flood, with chests full of crappie and blue gills. Marveled at the rippling of the primrose as crawdads dove for cover with each step I took on the dock. Kids catching buckets full as their parents fished nearby. On streets closed due to flooding I watched a woman peacefully fishing at sunset atop the hood of a partially submerged car. In other areas I watched a group of fishers who appeared to be walking on water as they fished from a pubic dock awash nearly two inches. The flood brought an opportunity for folks who fish for food also referred to as subsistence fishers, to take advantages of abundances that collapsed during the drought. The public health effects of the bounty resulting for this particular extreme weather event is unclear, but I don’t believe that’s the main concern of the folks I observed. Fishing in this regard is not necessarily to put food on the table, but rather represents a way of life in which food is always available.