JEANERETTE, La.
-- The coast of Louisiana is home to a unique way of life however communities are at risk as alarming losses are being suffered as the coast disappears. Professor Brian Marks will discuss issues brought up by the book, Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at the Parkview Library in New Iberia (
500 Grand Pre Blvd.). This program is part of the local
Water/Ways Smithsonian exhibit project as a partnership between the Jeanerette Museum Board and Iberia Parish Library.
Award winning travel writer Mike Tidwell’s book takes readers on a journey through the bayou as he introduces readers to the language, shrimp fishermen, the Houma Indians and the rich cultural history of southern Louisiana. As a visitor to Louisiana, Tidwell described oak trees killed by the salinity of the groundwater, cemeteries that were sinking into the swampland and explains why we may be saying farewell as the Louisiana coast erodes into the Gulf of Mexico.
Brian Marks is the assistant professor of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Department of Geography Anthropology. He is a political and economic geographer whose research in the coastal deltas of the Mekong and Mississippi rivers in Vietnam and the United States concerns the livelihoods of seafood producers in the context of a globalizing seafood industry and mounting environmental precarity in both deltas. A native of southern Terrebonne Parish, Dr. Marks has broader interests in the cultural landscape of South Louisiana and the socio-economic effects of offshore oil and gas development.
This program is suitable for an adult audience and is being held free of charge, however, seating may be limited. This program is a part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities made possible through funding from the Walton Family Foundation. This program is also sponsored by the Friends of the Jeanerette Museum and the Friends of the Library.
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