Using Oral History to Chart the Human Impacts and Resiliency of Climate Change and Environmental Disasters: Marine Harvester Communities in the Wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster

Social, economic, and cultural impacts of environmental disasters and climate change are transforming United States coastal communities and forcing their residents to adapt to a broad array of new conditions.

The Northern Gulf Coast Region of the United States faces especially pressing challenges. A region of extremes, it is home to one of the most productive U.S. fisheries but is also center of energy and chemical manufacturing. It faces some of the most rapid climate-change induced rise in sea level, exacerbated by extreme weather events, extensive land subsidence, and wetland dissipation and constant threats of industrial-environmental disasters. It is home to a diverse set of communities dependent upon marine harvesting, including Native American, African American, Acadian, and Vietnamese communities.

In 2011-12, a research team led by Louis Kyriakoudes conducted oral history interviews in marine harvester communities along the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to understand the impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster. As part of the interview protocol, researchers asked narrators about how they perceived changes to their natural environment. The resulting narratives document how Northern gulf Coast fishing communities are coping with climate change and environmental disaster through a complex adaptive strategies. The narratives also inform how local residents understand climate change, offering guidance for the formulation of community resilience strategies.