Decolonizing Resilience Planning: Experiences from the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribal Resettlement

• In Event: Settler Colonialism and Scalable Scholarship: Studying Up on The Technopolitics of Indigenous Displacement And Dispossession - II

Abstract

The Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe (IDJC) has seen over 98% of their traditional Island wash away over the last sixty years due to erosion caused by oil and gas pipeline canals, subsidence and a lack of soil renewal due to levees and river infrastructure, and to a lesser extent, sea level rise. Recurrent coastal flooding and extreme weather has displaced over 75% of the tribal citizens throughout the area. In 2002, after two major hurricanes and the re-routing of a regional levee system to exclude the Island, Tribal leaders began planning their tribe’s resettlement inland. After years of outreach, organizing, and partnership building, they worked with Louisiana’s Office of Community Development to include their plans in the state’s application to the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC). In 2016, the state of Louisiana was awarded $48 million to support the Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe’s long-standing resettlement planning efforts and create a model for resettlement, resilience, and sustainable development. The State’s approach to implementing NDRC funds has brought new challenges for the Tribe and their long-standing efforts. This presentation shares the experiences and aims of Tribal leaders and re-centers their tribal-driven efforts towards reuniting their displaced people and ensuring their cultural survival. Moreover we advance a more just approach for producing knowledge on resilience and resettlement.

Authors

• Nathan Jessee, Temple University

• Chantel Comardelle, Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe