Roundup: March 28, 2022

Recent Publications

• Daniel T. Lichter (Cornell, Sociology), Domenico Parisi (Mississippi State, Sociology), and Michael C. Taquino (Mississippi State, National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center) published “Inter-County Migration and the Spatial Concentration of Poverty: Comparing Metro and Nonmetro Patterns” in Rural Sociology. These authors evaluate whether the exchange of migrants between metro and nonmetro counties has exacerbated spatial disparities in poverty and whether some nonmetro counties have become “collecting grounds” for America’s poor.

• Jens Kaae Fisker, Pia Heike Johansen, Maja Theresia Jensen, and Annette Aagaard Thuesen (all from the University of Stavanger, Media and Social Science) published “Performing Rurality in Online Community Groups” in Rural Sociology. This article explores how rural identities and place-attachments are expressed and preformed in community Facebook groups across the Danish countryside. The project relates to a broader literature on how social media technologies are shaping (and possibly changing) rural experiences and communities.  

• Adam Crepelle (George Mason Law) published “Finding Ways to Empower Tribal Oil Production” in the Wyoming Law Review, which discusses how tribes can navigate federal barriers to Indian country oil production.

• Peyton Hagerman (Illinois Law, 2021 Graduate) published “Growing Confidence: A Proposal for Herbicidal Registration Procedures that Protect Both Farmers and the Environment” in the 2022 University of Illinois Law Review.

• Becky Mansfield (Ohio State, Geography) published “Particulate Matters: Trump EPA Deregulatory Science, Fossil Fuels, and Racist Regimes of Breathing” in Antipode.

• Alec P. Rhodes (Ohio State, Sociology) published “Student Debt and Geographic Disadvantage: Disparities by Rural, Suburban, and Urban Background.” in Rural Sociology.

• Anne Mook (Georgia, Forestry & Natural Resources), Noah Goyke (Northerland College, Natural Resources), and Puneet Dwivedi (Georgia, Forestry & Natural Resources) published “Conservation Intentions and Place Attachment Among Male and Female Forest Landowners” in Rural Sociology. This article sheds insight into the little-known area of conservation intentions of landowners, how these vary by gender, and what exactly this means for conservation efforts.

• Siena Chrisman, with Action Aid USA, published a report titled “Bigger is Not Better: The High Cost of Agribusiness Consolidation,” which explores consequences of a consolidated agricultural system, especially as revealed through the Covid-19 pandemic.

News & Commentary

• Liz Carey (The Daily Yonder) explores rural America’s electric vehicles future in her article “Which Came First, the Electric Pickup or the Charging Station?” Relatedly, the the Department of Transportation recently released a toolkit aimed at helping rural communities best leverage infrastructure funding to build EV charging stations.

• The White House recently published this White House Fact Sheet to evaluate what the Biden Administration will invest into Rural America to create opportunity and build wealth.

• Author Sarah Smarsh published an article in The Guardian discussing how her home state Kansas, and other states described as “one of the square ones in the middle,” defy the stereotypes created by news media and Hollywood. Smarsh highlights how the HBO show Somebody Somewhere sheds light on the humanity and diversity in these spaces.  

• Julie Lasky (New York Times) wrote this article discussing the travails and trauma of city dwellers who moved to “the country” to ride out the pandemic and provides an interesting perspective. Legal Ruralism also has this blog post discussing this piece.

• Stanford’s “& the West” magazine published Alex Schwartz’s article, “As the Klamath Basin’s Water Crisis Worsens, Local Journalism Explore a Way Forward,” which describes a story of both environmental catastrophe and a story of resilience, partnership, and even potential.

• Senators recently introduced bipartisan legislation entitled “The Rural Prosperity Act” which would establish the Office of Rural Prosperity as a permanent office in the White House tasked with coordinating federal efforts to support and connect America’s rural communities to federal programs and resources in order to improve outcomes for rural families and economies. You can read more about this legislation in Sean Golightly’s (Arizona Daily Sun) article here.

• The Senate has recently passed the Postal Service Reform Act which will, among other things, help serve rural newspapers’ interests. For example, it allows newspapers to mail sample copies to non-subscribers in their home counties for a lower price in an effort to regain subscribers lost in the last few years.

Events & Recordings

• Join the Harvard University Center for the Environment to discuss how the specificities of site shape global histories of energy. This virtual roundtable will discuss all things energy and society on April 20, 2022 at noon. If interested, you can register for the event here!

• The Legal Services Corporation’s podcast, Talk Justice, hosted an episode concerning the access to justice crisis in rural America. You can listen here.

• The Cities@Tufts Podcast also has an interesting recording of Linda Shi’s (Cornell University) presentation titled, “Collective Land Governance for a Changing Climate” where she discusses how land governance methods can help improve environmental sustainability and social justice.

• Finally, for the farm show enthusiasts, here is an interesting piece by Jonathan Ahl (St. Louis Public Radio) discussing how the pandemic has created some uncertainty about the future of these farm shows.