2. Loss, Attachment, and Place: Land Loss and Community in Coastal Louisiana
ISBN: 978-0-76231-309-9, eISBN: 978-1-84950-410-2
Publication date: 2 August 2006
Abstract
This chapter examines how residents of vulnerable communities frame environmental change. Specifically, this study reveals how residents from Louisiana's coastal communities understand coastal land loss. Respondents convey the meanings they give to land loss through constructing a narrative of place. We use a phenomenological approach that focuses on how stories are told and the subjective interpretations of societal members. We suggest that the slow onset disaster of coastal land loss leaves residents feeling vulnerable, forcing a constant and heightened awareness of place attachment. Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in late summer 2005, residents expressed a sense of separation and alienation from the restoration process. As major restoration plans are considered, residents’ place attachment can shed light on the role the communities can play in policy and restoration projects.
Citation
Burley, D., Jenkins, P. and Azcona, B. (2006), "2. Loss, Attachment, and Place: Land Loss and Community in Coastal Louisiana", McCright, A.M. and Nichols Clark, T. (Ed.) Community and Ecology (Research in Urban Policy, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 21-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3520(06)10002-1
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited