Cultural Impact Research

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum built this webpage to act as a clearinghouse for researchers who were and are still collecting data on the cultural impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill. Much of the media coverage focused on the environmental and economic impacts of the spill, and while these aspects are extremely important, the cultural impact of such disasters if often ignored until it is too late.

SoFAB decided to step in and create this page to streamline research efforts by offering a forum where one may post overviews of research projects, as well as project locations and logistics. By eliminating overlap, we hope to expand Gulf collection efforts in a meaningful way.  If one is interested in adding a research initiative to the clearinghouse, please contact SoFAB President Liz Williams via email, at liz@southernfood.org.

SoFAB also conducted a survey immediately after the disaster, asking restaurants how the BP oil spill in the gulf affected their businesses.  The results (but not individual responses) will be made available to researchers, other restaurants, and other interested parties.

For Researchers

If you need help contacting locals affected by the spill, such as elected officials, oystermen, shrimpers or residents, please contact Jimmy Delery by calling 504-606-7436.

For information about scientific research, please visit the Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs website here.

Thanks to our Seed Money Fund Donors:

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Currently Collecting Data on:

Seafood Harvesting Communities

• Southern Food and Beverage Museum — Oystermen (Conducted in Golden Meadow, LA)
• Southern Foodways Alliance — variety of fishermen, shrimpers, crabbers, record their thoughts and problems  in the Gravy Gulf Edition (Across the affected Gulf Coast)
• Gary Paul Nabhan, Leigh Belanger and Regina Fitzsimmons– Food Producers and Their Traditional Foods at Risk in the Gulf Coast (Across the affected Gulf Coast) Download a copy here: RAFT Gulf Coast Foods at Risk
• Interviews with communities dependent on the Gulf– Public Broadcasting’s GulfWatch Project. Interviews by Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman.
• “Fish with the King” by J. Malcolm Garcia, from Guernica. Excerpt published in Utne Reader.

Restaurants and Markets

• Tamara Goheen–cultural impact on foodways (Austin, TX)
• Southern Food and Beverage Museum–survey of restaurants and consequences of oil spill (New Orleans and surrounding areas)
• Edible New Orleans–interviews with local restaurants and others who make a living through seafood (New Orleans and surrounding areas)
• Restaurant Row Recovery Project– cataloging the changes in the restaurant world of post-Katrina New Orleans, and how the oil spill is now impacting them. (New Orleans, LA)
• The Historic New Orleans Collection– documenting and preserving information and images for future generations
• The Hospitality Research Center at the University of New Orleans — conducting a survey for restaurateurs to discover how they have been affected by the spill.

Actions and Response to the Oil Spill

• The Delta Working Group–video taped interviews with watermen and local experts (New Orleans and surrounding areas)
• Susan Fitch Spillman, Ph. D. — Oral histories with affected  French, Spanish, Vietnamese and Cambodian communities (New Orleans and surrounding areas)
• Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board–LA Seafood Newsroom tracks news about the health of seafood, how the watermen are doing, and national efforts to help (LA and affected areas)
• Women of the Storm– petition demanding effective and immediate action to save the Gulf Coast
• Documenting the Gulf Oil Spill at the University of North Carolina — Their Oral Histories of the American South program has a collection of interviews documenting the impact of the oil spill.
• Louisiana State Museum — Their newest exhibit focuses on Hurricane Katrina, but also discusses the effects of disasters like the Oil Spill.
• Gulf Tides: A series by the Gulf Restoration Network devoted to portraying the real problems of real people in the Gulf affected by the oil spill.
• Tourism Impact: A report on the impact of the oil spill on Gulf Coast tourism by the Louisiana Departments of Workforce Development and Economic Development
• social Effects on Gulf Coast Communities: A study conduced with support from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, and teh Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropoloy of the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Please Email Helen A. Regis (hregis1@lsu.edu) for more information
• Future of the South Symposium on the Gulf Oil Spill After One Year: Barnard Observatory at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
• WWNO Public Broadcast: Culture Impacted by the Oil Spill Disaster featuring Liz Williams of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
• Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority: Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan series.
• Science Daily: Gulf of Mexico Clean-Up Makes 2010 Spill 52-Times More Toxic

Arts and Media–Effected and Inspired

• Arts Council of New Orleans– Survey of how spill is affecting cultural communities of local artists, non-profits, and art-businesses (New Orleans and surrounding areas) Follow up survey to be found here.
• Nanette Bedway– political photo documentation chronicling cultural losses (LA Gulf Coast and other areas affected)
• Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery Group–legal aid and information collection on claims for non-profits affected by the spill (Gulf Coast)
• Shamarr Allen, Dee-1, Paul Sanchez, & Bennie of Hot 8– song and video “Sorry Ain’t Enough No More”
• Monique Verdin– Oil Spill Stories photos and video documenting the spill and the effects on the people who live and work in the areas affected (Ysyclosky, LA)
• UCBComedy — BP Spills Coffee: a satirical look at the oil spill
• Threadhead Records — Nobody Knows Nothin’ proceeds benefit Gulfaid.org
• Ken Harrison — Wings and a Prayer details the journey of a LA pelican through the oil and cleanup process
• Canary Collective — Their film, Oil and Water, will document the Cajun communities affected by the oil spill and what the future might hold for them.
• New Orleans Photo Alliance — Gulf, a photographic exploration of the Gulf of Mexico.
• Washed Away?: The Invisible Peoples of Louisiana’s Wetlands — The first comprehensive study of the people living on the Louisiana coast line.
• Dark Horizon, a film by Jesse Hicks documenting the reactions of people affected by the oil spill, and what they see in the future.
• Eye on the Gulf Coast– by Paul Gaj is a compilation of photographs, sketches, paintings and conversations documenting the aftermath of the Oil Spill.
• Robert Berning, with Berning Productions Inc. is producing an in-depth documentary exploring the Louisiana wetland loss and the effects of the BP Oil Spill.
• The Grand Isle Juried Art Exhibition–organized by the Grand Isle Community Development Team draws from a wide base of Louisiana coast themed art, including several pieces documenting the Oil Spill.
• Drew Landry– “BP Blues“
• Tower of Power — “Only So Much Oil in the Ground“
• Glen Pitre Côte Blanche Productions Inc.: America on the Half Shell, a documentary about the history of Gulf Coast oysters