Join the Sawyer Seminar for a tour of the disappearing lands of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish including the Theriot Lock and Golden Meadow, Isle de Jean Charles, and Dulac, as we visit Native communities and learn how those experiencing loss of place develop practices of persistence amidst centuries of damages to cultural memory, and practices of presence amidst ongoing recovery from Hurricane Ida. Open to 20 guests, registrants must RSVP by emailing Miriam Taylor at mtaylor11@tulane.edu - a full itinerary and more details will be provided in response; the event runs from 9:45 am to 6 pm with snacks, lunch, and transportation provided. We will be guided to the sites by Janie Verret Luster (a master palmetto basket weaver and cultural preservationist of the United Houma Nation) and have guest speakers involved on the bus and at every stop including coastal geoscientist Kelly Sanks, Windell Curole, Director at South Lafourche Levee District, Clarice Friloux of that community and her brother, Roland Molinere, Jr., better known as RJ on the show “Swamp People,” as well as council members from the United Houma Nation including Kirby Verret Pastor of the United Methodist Church of Dulac and former Chief of the United Houma Nation. Together we will deepen an understanding of how ongoing colonial processes push economic and environmental precarity towards the periphery, and how we might build memories with people who come from places that are being lost to rising waters and intensified storm damage symbolic forms.

This site visit is a part of a multi-part symposium taking place on October 11th, 12th, and 16th, which considers indigenous communities’ response and leadership in confronting place change amidst climate change.