Indigenous Ontologies: Gullah Geechee Autonomy in Livelihoods of Abundance in the Americas
Event Type
Presentation
Location
EHFA 136
Start Date
6-3-2020 3:30 PM
End Date
6-3-2020 4:45 PM
Description
The Gullah Geechee, who are the descendants of enslaved West Africans of the Mende people, imported particular indigenous technologies such as cast netting, gigging, line dipping and collective harvesting to a particular North American place. However, in attempting to continue these traditional practices in a different landscape but that featured ecological similarities to their historic homelands, the Gullah Geechee encountered Cusabo tribes and their practices. It was through this encounter between Africans of the diaspora and Native Americans, and the other-than-human inhabitants of this particular landscape, that traditional fishing practices co-mingled to articulate new cultural practices. Even though these practices can be defined in an unexpected way as indigenous, de jure sovereignty is not the reality, but rather de facto assertions of belonging to the land. As long as the Gullah Geechee have access to the land, abundance is possible is their principle refrain. This presentation discusses how their anti-materialist ontology and indigenous knowledge opens up resources inaccessible to individuals unfamiliar with local knowledge and practices. It will also discuss how a West African consciousness of reciprocity within a context of livelihoods, sharing focused on a non-monetary communal system and cooperation in which human and other-than-human kinship networks are fundamental, allow the Gullah Geechee to achieve a level of autonomy not afforded other groups.
Recommended Citation
Fuller, Sharon, "Indigenous Ontologies: Gullah Geechee Autonomy in Livelihoods of Abundance in the Americas" (2020). International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference. 17.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/iggad/2020/fullconference/17
Indigenous Ontologies: Gullah Geechee Autonomy in Livelihoods of Abundance in the Americas
EHFA 136
The Gullah Geechee, who are the descendants of enslaved West Africans of the Mende people, imported particular indigenous technologies such as cast netting, gigging, line dipping and collective harvesting to a particular North American place. However, in attempting to continue these traditional practices in a different landscape but that featured ecological similarities to their historic homelands, the Gullah Geechee encountered Cusabo tribes and their practices. It was through this encounter between Africans of the diaspora and Native Americans, and the other-than-human inhabitants of this particular landscape, that traditional fishing practices co-mingled to articulate new cultural practices. Even though these practices can be defined in an unexpected way as indigenous, de jure sovereignty is not the reality, but rather de facto assertions of belonging to the land. As long as the Gullah Geechee have access to the land, abundance is possible is their principle refrain. This presentation discusses how their anti-materialist ontology and indigenous knowledge opens up resources inaccessible to individuals unfamiliar with local knowledge and practices. It will also discuss how a West African consciousness of reciprocity within a context of livelihoods, sharing focused on a non-monetary communal system and cooperation in which human and other-than-human kinship networks are fundamental, allow the Gullah Geechee to achieve a level of autonomy not afforded other groups.
Comments
Theme: Learning Land; Moderator: Sara Makeba Daise, Coastal Carolina University