Culture for Sale: Marketing Gullah Identity In the South Carolina Sea Islands

(Winning Entry 2002 SAS Student Paper Competition: Graduate) Gullah women of the South Carolina Sea Islands have held firmly to the traditional craft of sweetgrass basketry brought by their enslaved African ancestors. Presently their identity is being appropriated by the tourism industry. This commoditization is manifest in tourism literature, brochures, and postcards in ways that invite tourists to witness this exoticized cultural heritage. The chosen images serve to enforce a representation of Gullah that is tied to the colonial plantation era. This paper elucidates how the use of Gullah imagery within such exploitative contexts undermines Gullah women\u27s power to define and represent themselves on their own terms