• Corpus ID: 128515070

Introducing Folknography: A Study of Gullah Culture

@inproceedings{Jarrett2002IntroducingFA,
  title={Introducing Folknography: A Study of Gullah Culture},
  author={Charles W. Jarrett},
  year={2002}
}

• Charles W. Jarrett
• Published 2002
• History

Principles of rural sociology, ethnographic research, and interpersonal communication provide the foundation for a study of Gullah culture. The Gullahs are descendants of enslaved people living in the Sea Islands and coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. Unlike enslaved Africans living in mainland regions, the Gullahs remained more isolated and able to transform their language and culture into a uniquely distinctive African American heritage. Construction of bridges during the last fifty years, connecting coastal Sea Islands with the mainland, eventually led to land development initiatives and a thriving coastal economy founded on resort tourism. Gullahs began losing their land at an alarming rate. The Gullahs are a people with economic and emotional ties to their homelands, and the loss of land means the loss of Gullah culture. Literature suggests the Gullah community is experiencing a cultural Diaspora, exacerbated by a perceived fear that younger generations of Gullahs may be losing their cultural identity. Folknography, a version of Rapid Rural Appraisal, will be introduced to provide a descriptive analysis of Gullah culture and explore the impact of land development initiatives on the dissipation of Gullah culture and language. Introduction The Gullahs represent a distinctive group of African Americans living primarily in the Sea Islands and coastal regions of our southeastern United States. The Sea Islands extend from a northern point of Georgetown, South Carolina, near Myrtle Beach, through nearly one thousand islands including Wadmalaw, St. Helena, Hilton Head, Daufuskie, Sapelo, St. Simons, Jekyll, and Cumberland, until reaching a southern point of Amelia Island off the coast of northern Florida (Barnwell 1997; Goodwine 1998; Jones-Jackson 1987; Pollitzer 1999; and Smith 1996). Pollitzer (1999), provides a rather romantic