Protecting Place: Rural African American Cultural Memory, Folklife and Conservation Discourse in Central North Carolina

Sense of place is valued and utilized as a discursive, rhetorical tool within the sustainable development movement, forming the basis for conservation strategies. But there is a disconnect between the discourse of place that occurs within the conservation/sustainability movement, the resulting public policy, and the sense of place that exists in communities facing environmental and economic issues. In this paper, activists from three rural African American communities in central North Carolina describe the sense of place they experience in their communities. The paper addresses the criticism that place is a depoliticized, romanticized concept, demonstrating that within these communities, sense of place is critically evaluated and constructed, particularly to maintain access to land and address political, economic and social issues. By examining place-based conservation strategies and their reception within these communities, this paper will argue for a partnership-based collaborative approach based on local political, historic and economic conditions.Master of Art