Protecting Culture
The cultural heritage and traditions of the Pointe au Chien people shape and have been shaped by their environment. The traditional mounds and burial grounds of the tribe are, for example, now threatened by the rapid erosion of the wetlands. The sea has washed away the medicine plants that tribal healers used for generations. As storms increase in frequency and intensity, the tribe increasingly struggles to rebuild and keep their people together.
Protecting both the natural and built environment of the Pointe au Chien region is essential to the cultural identity of the tribe; likewise, protecting the culture of the tribe is essential to the protection of the environment. As the tribe fights to preserve their ancestral land, they also fight to preserve their unique tribal identity.
École Pointe-au-Chien
The Indian French language is crucial to Pointe au Chien’s unique cultural identity, with roots dating back to the 17th century. For many elders, it is their first language. However, in the 1960s, discrimination against French-speaking students in Terrebonne led many community members to begin losing their fluency.
The establishment of a French immersion school was thus a historic win for Indian French preservation, marking the end of a long struggle by Tribal members to institutionalize French immersion in the community. In 2021, when the Terrebonne Parish School Board closed Pointe-aux-Chenes Elementary School—the only elementary school in the region—members of the tribe fought successfully for state legislation that re-established it as the first ever Indian French immersion school in Louisiana. In August 2023, the school reopened as École Pointe-au-Chien.
The school building was severely damaged in Hurricane Ida. As reconstruction continues, classes are being held in the nearby Knights of Columbus Community Hall. Rebuild Pointe au Chien Together hopes to fund and support restoration efforts.
Petite Maison de la Plantes Médecine
This greenhouse stores a substantial collection of native shrubs, plants, and flowers, culturally and medicinally important to the Pointe au Chien tribe. It functions not just as an ethnobotanical archive, but also as a classroom to teach herbal remedies, and as a center for community members to access local, hard-to-find plants.
Construction of the greenhouse was completed just months before Hurricane Ida hit in August 2021. Thanks to its robust, gold-standard construction, the greenhouse withstood the storm entirely, but recovery efforts slowed the population of the Petite Maison. Finally, three years later in 2024, the Pointe au Chien greenhouse had its grand opening, presided over by Theresa Dardar.
Theresa filmed this video as a grant application to populate the Petite Maison de la Plantes Médecine; she won the grant and used the money to purchase key medicinal plants to grow in the greenhouse.
News coverage on the Ecole Pointe au Chien by WWLTV in January 2024
Culture Camp
Every summer, the Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe organizes a week-long Culture Camp, where Tribal youths get to practice Indian French, learn indigenous song and dance, make native crafts, and eat traditional meals made by Tribal elders. Volunteers from both Pointe au Chien and neighboring tribes come together to teach campers about their culture. About 20 youths aged between 8 and 15 years old participate each year, inheriting ancestral knowledge and thus a profound connection to their land.
Campers learn about local ecology and receive plant trimmings to take home from Tulane Professor Jelagat Cheruiyot. (Kezia Setyawan, WWNO)