The Estuary's Gift: An Atlantic Coast Cultural Biography (Rural Studies Series) [Paperback]

David Craig Griffith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rural Studies Series | Publication Date: November 1, 1999

A coastal region's oldest inhabitants, particularly families of watermen and commercial fishers, often possess the deepest knowledge about a region and its ecological problems. Because of this, assaults on watermen lifeways and commercial fishing families--whether from organized recreational interests, real estate developers, or public policy makers--reduce the cultural and biological diversity of the coast and often upset the delicate environmental balance. Through the lens of the Mid-Atlantic Coast, especially the Chesapeake Bay and the Albermarle and Pamlico Sounds of North Carolina, David Griffith develops the theme that environmental degradation follows the loss of the most intimate understandings of coastal ecosystems. In The Estuary's Gift, Griffith traces the development of Mid-Atlantic cultures from the Algonquins and the earliest European families who hunted whales and netted herring, to present-day commercial fishing families who work the complex estuarine systems of the coast. In the process, he chronicles a series of developments that erode communities across American landscapes: the wearing away of local and regional history that results when national retail and restaurant chains convert local merchants into clerks and busboys, or the loss of biological diversity that follows the reconfiguration of countrysides to support monocrop agriculture, industrial chicken production, hog farming, forestry, and mining.Griffith insists that we heed the ways we treat one another in light of the ways we treat nature, measuring both by the standards we invoke when we give and receive gifts. Stories of conflict among fishers, of Mexican immigrant women brought to seafood houses to pick the meat from cooked, cooled crab---displacing and replacing African-American women--and of the slow yet steady attempts to criminalize family fishing practices that reach back thirteen generations show the ways in which the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of gift exchange have eroded. Only when we consider human relations as an integral part of the natural cycles will we begin to restore the balance.More than an account of the decline of fishing families or stressed natural resources, The Estuary's Gift illustrates how pressing social problems, such as environmental degradation and assaults on working families, play out in local contexts and local history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[Griffith] offers a wonderful, timely book for those concerned about loss not only the deterioration of the estuaries and ecological systems, but loss of community, way of life and livelihood, and control of the political process --P. D. Travis, Choice

The necessity for a concise cultural biography of the Atlantic Coast is reflected in the headlines of current newspapers concerning net bans, beach access, water pollution, and heritage tourism. Through a haze of media interpretation of bureaucratic, scientific, and political rhetoric comes a book dedicated to understanding the cultural identity of coastal dwellers and their significance to the global community.... Don't read this book if you plan to go to the beach wearing rose-colored sunglasses with no intention of giving back to the gift given. --Connie Mason, North Carolina Historical Review

These eight delightfully written essays beautifully illustrate the concept of bioregionalism. Telling the stories of the fishers of the mid-Atlantic coast, David Griffith weaves a powerful tale of the interrelationship of people and their natural environment. He shares stories and observations based on extensive interviews, conducted over a number of years as parts of studies for understanding the impact of fishing regulations on commercial fishers. . . The Estuary's Gift would be wonderful . . . for discussion in a class on bioregions or the interrelationships between people and nature. --Margot W. Garcia , Rural Sociology

About the Author

David Griffith is Senior Scientist and Associate Professor of Anthropology at East Carolina University. He is author of Jones's Minimal: Low Wage Labor in the United States (SUNY, 1993), Working Poor: Farmworkers in the United States (with Ed Kissam, Temple, 1995), and Any Way They Cut It: Meat Packing and Small Town America (with Don Stull and Michael Broadway, UP of Kansas, 1995).

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271019514
• ISBN-13: 978-0271019512
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,268,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essays in bioregionalism, May 16, 2000

By 

Dr. Margot W. Garcia - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Estuary's Gift: An Atlantic Coast Cultural Biography (Rural Studies Series) (Paperback)

These delightfully written eight essays beautifully illustrate the concept of bioregionalism. Telling the stories of the commercial fishers of the Mid-Atlantic, the people who live along the coast of the Albemarle Sound and the Chesapeake Bay and who are farmers, fishers, and crabbers making a living from the water, David Griffin weaves together a powerful tale of the interrelationship of people and their natural environment. Based on extensive interviews over the past ten years, done in part for studies of fishing reglations for the government of North Carolina and others, the reader hears the voices and concerns of the fishers who for generations have lived in harmony with the estuary and its gifts of fish and shellfish. Threatened now by pollution down the Neuse River from the industrial farms, forestry and mining, the fishers are attempting to adapt and earn their living in other ways. They protest the regulations put in place to save the resource from being overfished. So here is a different side of the story from that put forth by many environmentalists, told in the fishers' own words, with empathy for their plight. At what price will the North Carolina and Virginia coastlines be developed for condos and fancy vacation houses? You be the judge of what we are winning and what we are losing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Speaking for voices not heard, September 8, 2000

By 

Amy Blizzard (Jacksonville, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Estuary's Gift: An Atlantic Coast Cultural Biography (Rural Studies Series) (Paperback)

The Estuary's Gift is a beautiful and poignant expression of the connections between people and the coastal environment. Through eight delightfully written essays, Griffith entertains and educates in a poetic, lyrical style that draws the reader into a world that few of us know. Griffith teaches the reader about North Carolina's rich history in commercial fishing by introducing us to the people whose lives are linked to this industry. No matter where you are live, this book will show you the connections between your next seafood dinner , or vacation to the beach, and a unique way of life along the North Carolina coast. If you are from coastal North Carolina, don't be surprised if you see the lives of friends and family reflected in this book.

Through his years of research, Dr. Griffith introduces us to some of the many men and women who as commercial fishermen are deeply rooted in an industry that is much more than a source of income. The North Carolina coast is home to some of the oldest fishing families in the country, and this book speaks for these families and others who make a living from the coastal environment. These people have a sense of culture, community, and history from their lives as fishermen that is threatened by fishing regulations and influences of population growth. These men and women also have an intimate knowledge of the water and its ever-changing conditions that sometimes result in problems for the seafood industry and the future of the esturaries. As they try to express problems they see from their daily contact with the water, many are ignored by rule makers or "experts" in government. Catch limits, closed/open fishing areas, equipment regulations, and license requirements are all examples of policies that were developed by "experts" who do not see the daily effects the rules have in commercial fishing and the coastal ecosystem.

Griffith also addresses how the population boom that along the coast that has impacted the health of the estuaries and the coastal communities. He discusses the impacts of "gift shop" fisheries and revisionist developments that transform the traditional fishing communities into retirement and tourist boutiques that have little appreciation of the past.

The Estuary's Gift is an intimate portrait of a changing way of life that is reflected in changes in communities and families along the coast. By involving us in the lives of men and women who are some of the many estuary's gifts, it speaks for voices not often heard.