The long goodbye on a disappearing, ancestral island: a just retreat from Isle de Jean Charles

Climate change will necessitate evermore frequent and complex managed retreats in the future, and drafting policies that are equitable and just for those residents who are relocating will be essential. The USA’s first federally funded, community-scale, climate-driven resettlement is currently underway in coastal Louisiana. In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the state of Louisiana $48.3 million to plan, design, and implement a structured, just, and scalable resettlement with former and current Isle de Jean Charles residents. Most Island households are multi-generational and directly descended from Jean Marie Naquin, after whose father the Island is named. Using interviews, ethnographic data, and policy documents, this paper will delineate and analyze the dimensions of sense of place, which, in this case, prompted policy changes dramatically different from standard relocation policies: assurance that the properties and land from which residents are departing will remain in their possession as long as the land remains. For most Island residents, this was non-negotiable. The intangible connection to place—feelings of belonging, lifestyle, family connections, and culture—plays a central role in many families’ decision to stay or go. The choice to relocate is rooted in this complex entanglement of identity, familial ties, land loss, historical and current marginalization, and a way of life passed on by multiple generations. In forthcoming community resettlements, continued access and ownership of the properties being left behind should be considered as a critical component for planning just retreats.