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Abstract
This project offers a finer interpretation of whiteness by highlighting responses of white, working-class commercial fishermen and working-class African Americans to initiatives aimed at shifting Franklin County, Florida's economy from a production base to real estate and tourism development. We qualitatively examine the influence of working-class whiteness on workers' ‘structure of feeling’ or emotive responses regarding the move to post-production activities. Building on critical white studies, we argue that white fishermen have not been able to secure black support for the fishermen's resistance to restructuring because of differing structures of feeling these groups have towards economic diversification. In turn, alternative structures of feelings for whites and blacks derive from racialized, local landscapes and contemporary occupational segregation in fisheries.
Ce projet offre une meilleure interprétation de la blanchitude en soulignant les réponses de pêcheurs commerciaux blancs de classe ouvrière et d'Afro-Américains de classe ouvrière aux initiatives visant à changer l'économie du comté de Franklin, Floride, une base de production, en une économie de biens immobiliers et de développement touristique. Nous examinons qualitativement l'influence de la blanchitude de la classe ouvrière sur la ‘structuration des sentiments’ des travailleurs ou leurs réponses émotives concernant le mouvement vers des activités post-productives. En se basant sur des études critiques de la blanchitude, nous soutenons que les pêcheurs blancs n'ont pas été capables de sécuriser le soutien des noirs pour la résistance des pêcheurs contre la restructuration à cause des différentes structures de sentiments que ces groupes ont vis-à-vis de la diversification économique. es unes après les autres, des structures alternatives de sentiments pour les blancs et pour les noirs viennent des paysages racialisés et locaux et de la ségrégation contemporaine et occupationnelle dans les pêcheries.
Este proyecto se ofrece una interpretación más fina de la blancura por destacar las respuestas de pescadores blancos de la clase obrera y afroamericanos de la clase obrera a iniciativas con el objetivo cambiar la economía de Franklin County, Florida, de una basada en la producción a una basada en los bienes inmuebles y el desarrollo del turismo. Hacemos una investigación cualitativa en la influencia de la blancura del clase obrera en la ‘estructura de sentimiento’ o respuestas emotivas que tienen los obreros con respeto al movimiento a actividades post-producción. Partiendo de los estudios críticos de la blancura, discutimos que los pescadores blancos no han sido capaces segurar el apoyo de los afroamericanos para la resistencia de los pescadores contra la restructuración porque los dos grupos tienen ‘estructuras de sentimientos’ distintos hacia la diversificación económica. Por turno, estructuras de sentimientos alternativos para blancos y negros derivan de paisajes racializados locales y la segregación ocupacional contemporánea en la industria pesquera.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the invaluable input provided by the oystermen, shrimpers, and other seafood harvesters who participated in this project, as well as participation by other focus group members.
Notes
1 We term these harvesters ‘fishermen’ rather than ‘fishers’ because this is how respondents self-referenced. Fishermen also include shellfish harvesters or oystermen.
2 The FCWSA is a non-profit group organized in 1978 to promote the county's seafood industry, ecological balance in area bays, and advocate for seafood workers’ rights.
3 In 2004, 13.5 per cent of the population was below poverty, compared to a statewide average of 11.9 per cent; and in 2000, 68.3 per cent had finished high school (US Bureau of Census Citation2008).
4 St. Claire (Citation1998: 65) argues that in the nineteenth century, some African American Floridians emulated white cracker culture. While this may hold true, St. Claire (Citation1998) also acknowledges that the term cracker is a common racial slur used by southern African Americans to reference poor whites, again with blacks constructing themselves in contradiction to the white, southern cracker.
5 Blacks accounted for 26 per cent of county residents in 1950; 21 per cent in 1960; 19 per cent in 1970; 14 per cent in 1980; 15 per cent in 1990; and 17 percent in 2000 (US Bureau of Census Citation1950, Citation1960, Citation1970, Citation1980, 1992, Citation2000b).
6 In nearby Gadsden County, white planters served as trustees of segregated black schools before integration. These schools were often located on trustees' lands, and the trustees determined opening and closing of the school year, which coincided with planting and harvesting season. The school year for white children who attended county schools was 180 days but only 150 days for the black schools. These conditions existed until county schools integrated between 1968 and 1972 (White Citation2006). Whites protested integration by removing their children from the schools. In 2008, 3.9 per cent of children enrolled in Gadsden County public schools were white (Florida Department of Education Citation2009). Whites comprise 39 per cent of Gadsden County's population.
7 See < www.floridamemory.com>.
8 Dog Island is owned mostly by the Nature Conservancy. A small number of private homes are also on the island.
9 ‘St. James Island’ is attached to the mainland but separated by the Crooked River that flows from northeast to southwest through the county. Its southern border is the Gulf of Mexico.
10 Conclusions are limited by the selection of issues identified as restructuring activities and the groups responding to these issues. Absent were the views of working-class whites other than commercial fishermen and also the input of more recent, affluent migrants who maintain residences on St. George Island.
11 Project details are available at < http://www.southernfoodways.com/documentary/oh/florida_forgotton_coast/index.shtml>.
12 A grant from the Governor's office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development financed a study assessing the suitability and funding of an off-water seafood industrial park and landing and mooring spaces for commercial fishermen. Commercial fishermen and dealers, however, were not amenable to the off-water processing facility because of concerns that such a location would reduce the visibility of seafood processing in Franklin County (Herbert, Lampl, Talgo and McClain Citation2007).
13 The one black county commissioner is a former oysterman.