Roundup: March 29, 2024
A regular feature of our growing online journal, The Rural Review, these roundup posts collect notable recent research, analysis, and related rural news and commentary. Feel free to send suggestions for future collections to us here. And, more details on other opportunities to contribute to the Rural Review can be found here.
Recent Publications
Carl Gershenson, Jacob Haas, Matthew Desmond (all Sociology, Princeton University), and Olivia Jin (Sociology, Stanford University) use the rural county of Williams County, North Dakota, as the subject of their study on how rural communities are affected by extractive industry and how housing markets respond to rapid economic changes. Their article, Fracking Evictions: Housing Instability in a Fossil Fuel Boomtown, published in Society & Natural Resources, draws on oil production statistics and evictions data to consider how “rural gentrification” resulted in long-term residents being displaced by higher-income workers linked to the oilfields.
Kai Bosworth (World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University) considered recent efforts to recognize the subterranean in geographic examinations in Filling the Hole? On New Geographies of the Subsurface published in Progress in Human Geography. While recognizing that the subsurface, long overlooked by scholarly attention, has gained considerable prominence in areas of geopolitics, natural resource extraction, cultural geographies, and epistemological politics, especially in urban contexts, the article calls for more precise, comparative, and historicized interpretations of spatial relations above and below the surface of the earth, including in rural spaces.
In More Than Meat? Livestock Farmers’ Views on Opportunities to Produce for Plant-based Diets, researchers Rhiannon Craft (Social Sciences, Cardiff University) and Hannah Pitt (Geography & Planning, Cardiff University) explore Welch livestock farmers’ attitudes and transformational capacity as environmental factors encourage a transition to plant-based diets. Published in Agriculture and Human Values, the article considers the often-overlooked perspectives of producers of animal-derived foods, identifying factors that might make transition risky: financial and environmental inflexibility and social norms regarding what constitutes “good” Welsh farmers.
News & Commentary
An article by Gabe Schwartzman (Geography & Sustainability, University of Tennessee) in The Conversation considered the limited reach of new investment projects in Appalachia where, despite the fact that the region has the third-largest concentration of forest carbon offset projects, few rural communities actually see any benefit in employment, investment, or community involvement.
Ambrook Research reported on farmers in rural communities helping rural fire departments put out local field fires. Faced with volunteer firefighter shortages and the fact that many volunteer members work out of their area during daytime hours, rural fire departments rely on local farmers’ aid and their ability to handle some fires on their own while waiting for help to arrive.
A recent report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University categorized 11 different definitions of “rural” and found that having no standard definition in federal policy or housing research impacts how estimates of rural housing markets and demographics are established and can affect the federal funding an area may receive.
An article in The Daily Yonder considered how Norman Lear’s legacy, particularly his iconic television series, “All in the Family,” signaled the end of portrayals of rural America on network television. Within a year of the show’s debut, a “rural purge” resulted in the cancellation of shows like “Hee Haw,” “Green Acres,” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
Events & Recordings
The Center for Rural Affairs recently posted an episode in their monthly “Rural Rapport” series exploring how local, independently owned grocery stores act as the heart of rural communities. Host Teresa Hoffman is joined by the president of a board overseeing the operation of a grocery store in Exeter, Nebraska, and a fourth-generation veteran of the grocery business in Malvern, Iowa. Listen here for their discussion of legislative efforts in Nebraska and Iowa that would act to protect these community hubs from the challenges of shrinking populations, retirements, and competition with big box stores.
Rural LISC shared a recording of the latest installment of their webinar series Raising the Roof, entitled “Untangling Heirs’ Property: Navigating the Impact on Homeownership and Wealth Equity.” In this session, an assortment of experts, researchers, and practitioners shared research findings and experiences with community-based programs focused on heirs’ property and discussed the impact on homeownership, consequences for wealth accumulation, and potential solutions for untangling titles. Find out more here.
