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From our coastal desk, a look at the indigenous communities who call Louisiana home

Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe citizens Patty Ferguson-Bohnee and Lori Stewart pass bags of oyster shell and pile it on a boat for transport during a volunteer event on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.
Halle Parker
/
WWNO
Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe citizens Patty Ferguson-Bohnee and Lori Stewart pass bags of oyster shell and pile it on a boat for transport during a volunteer event on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.

The Houma language was spoken on the land that would become Louisiana before it was colonized. In 2013, the Houma Language Project was established to help revitalize the indigenous tongue and encourage speaking among younger tribal members by offering internships. WWNO’s Kezia Setyawan spoke with Jace Naquin, one of those interns.

Like many tribes across Louisiana, the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe built earthen mounds all over their land in south Terrebonne Parish. Those historic mounds are now at risk of slipping away as the state’s coast rapidly erodes. Still, the tribe is doing all it can to protect them, which includes turning to the power of oyster reefs to curb the land loss. The Coastal Desk’s Halle Parker has the story.

In August, Devon Parfait officially took oath as Chief of the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe in South Louisiana. He recently graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts and currently works as a Coastal Resilience Analyst for the Environmental Defense Fund. He sat down with Kezia Setyawan to talk about growing into his new role as Chief.

Today’s special episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Carly Berlin, a reporter on our Coastal Desk. It was produced by Patrick Madden and Alana Schreiber, and our digital editor is Katelyn Umholtz. Our engineers are Garrett Pittman, Aubry Procell, and Thomas Walsh. 

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:30 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.

Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

Alana Schreiber is the managing producer for the live daily news program, Louisiana Considered. She comes to WRKF from KUNC in Northern Colorado, where she worked as a radio producer for the daily news magazine, Colorado Edition. She has previously interned for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul and The Documentary Group in New York City.