The Land Was Ours

Differential equity in access to public and private coastal infrastructure in the Southeastern United States

“…We suggest that the most likely explanation for the racial imbalance of private WAI is rooted in the history of property ownership along the southeast coast. Following the Civil War, emancipated peoples and their descendants acquired a significant percentage of the private property in this region (Fisher, 1978;Kahrl, 2012b;Rivers, 2007), delivering a measure of autonomy and opportunity within the broader racist structure of the post-Civil War South. Black communities continued to grow and acquire property until the mid-20th century, when the increasing desirability of coastal land and influx of primarily White migrants from other parts of the USA displaced Black and Gullah-Geechee landowners (Goodwine, 2015;Kahrl, 2012aKahrl, , 2012bRivers, 2006).…”

The Aesthetics of Sand: Reclaiming Hong Kong’s Unsettled Grounds

“…Merriman's (2007) history of the British motorway highlights various appeals and controversies around the extraction of the large quantities of sand and aggregate needed to build the motorway. Other studies have focused on the history of beaches as sites of racialized exclusion, violence, and contestation (Perera 2009;Kahrl 2012;Durrheim and Dixon 2001;Saldanha 2007). Lai, Chau, and Lorne (2016), meanwhile, turn their attention to the ecological economics of Hong Kong's state monopoly of sand.…”

Trauma and Transgression in Nature-Based Leisure

“…Historical trauma, as defined by Kirmayer et al ( 2014 ), is the impact of violence, cultural suppression, and oppression of people who have a collective identity—such as a racial or ethnic background, or gender or sexual identity—beyond the generation who lived through the specific events (Kira, 2010 ). Thus, historical trauma affects a multitude of minoritized groups, including Black Americans in the U.S. through institutionalized oppression, such as slavery and de jour segregated society known as “Jim Crow”, though oppression can and does occur contemporaneously (Wiltse, 2010 ; Kahrl, 2012 ; Finney, 2014 ; Goodrid, 2018 ; Walker, 2019 ). Specific examples of oppression connected to historical trauma and the African American experience associated with nature-based spaces include white people tracking Black people who sought freedom from enslavement; lynching (often by hanging from trees) and beatings to punish and deter Black people for seeking freedom and equality; segregating urban park systems throughout the Jim Crow era; creating or legislating unequal facilities and access to public lands; and terrorizing or killing Black Americans in modern outdoor spaces through sanctioned forces (e.g., police) and unsanctioned vigilantes (Byrne and Wolch, 2009 ; Lee and Scott, 2016 ; Theriault and Mowatt, 2020 ).…”

“…As another illustration, Lee and Scott ( 2016 ) spoke with Black Americans about the normalization of a disconnect from nature due to violence targeted at Black people, to which a participant noted how trauma had “settled” in the Black community–“we just don't [participate in nature-based leisure]… that's just not what we do.” Similarly, reproducing cultural stigmas about what groups of people do (or don't do) in leisure contexts disregards historical trauma (Byrne, 2012 ). For example, the perception that “Black people don't swim” expunges countless incidents (including riots) across more than six decades when whites terrorized, brutalized, and outright killed Black Americans if they did swim, and used legal and, at times, violent means to dispossess Black Americans of the pools, beaches, and other swimming spots they owned or frequented and enjoyed (Wiltse, 2010 ; Kahrl, 2012 ). As a different example, recent efforts by universities and other institutions to acknowledge land dispossessions and honor Native peoples can unintentionally reinforce trauma when not accompanied by actions that right the wrongs that have occurred (Sabo et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Examples of “two-eyed seeing” (blending western scientific methodologies with traditional ecological knowledge) also demonstrates how Indigenous understanding of wildlife and land use can greatly improve understanding of complex systems (Housty et al, 2014 ; Rapp Learn, 2020 ; Henson et al, 2021 ). People of color have also engaged in leisure activities, such as camping, swimming, and traveling for pleasure, despite oppressive circumstances (Young Armstead, 2005 ; Wiltse, 2010 ; Kahrl, 2012 ; Algeo, 2013 ). These stories underscore the resistance and agency of minoritized populations who have remained committed to developing, maintaining, and sustaining connections to nature despite efforts by the dominant culture to exclude (or include) them, therefore offering opportunities for moving forward if these transgressions are fully heard and embraced.…”