Roundup: June 19, 2024
We return from our summer break with this brief roundup of notable recent research, analysis, and related rural news and commentary. As always, 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
The Journal of Research in Rural Education published Rural Definition Triangulation: Improving the Credibility and Transferability of Rural Education Research in the United States by Phillip D. Grant (Education, Clemson University), Jesse Moon Longhurst (Education, Southern Oregon University), and Michael Thier (Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership, University of Oregon). Recognizing an ongoing concern within scholarship for how “rural” is defied, the authors introduce a new framework that encompasses four definitional approaches that serve to enhance the categorization of rurality in education research.
Meredith G. F. Worthen (Sociology, University of Oklahoma) and Melissa S. Jones (Sociology, Brigham Young University) published “Homophobia” in the Country? Rural America and the Stigmatization of LGBTQ People: An Empirical Test of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory in Rural Sociology. This work addresses the assumption that rural communities are simply and uniformly “homophobic.” The study focuses on hetero-cis-normativity and intersecting experiences with social power as they relate to rurality and LGBTQ attitudes and draws on its findings to offer strategies for combatting LGBTQ stigma.
Researchers Kristen Ounanian and Matthew Howells (both Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark) note that gentrification scholarship has not paid sufficient attention to coastal areas as a unique subset of the rural and that rural studies often demonstrate an agrarian bias. In Deconstructing and Resisting Coastal Displacement: A Research Agenda, published in Progress in Human Geography, they argue that scholars should consider the displacement processes that affect coastal regions—enclosure, ocean grabbing, gentrification, and financialization—and the salience of adjacency claims as resistance.
News & Commentary
A Center for American Progress report argues that for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s historic boost in infrastructure spending to benefit rural communities, the federal government must address past shortcomings that have left rural communities wary of federal involvement. To succeed, the rollout should focus on helping communities fully access and benefit from the funds.
An article in Law 360 argues that rural access to justice challenges and the rural attorney decline have become conflated as a single crisis solvable only through the recruiting of new attorneys. This approach results in an oversimplified understanding of the unique hurdles rural communities face and overlooks other potential solutions that may meet rural needs.
The Cornell Chronicle published a piece contradicting claims that China has been buying or leasing much of the U.S.’s farmland. Citing new research, the article notes that countries classified as “adversary” by the federal government held only 1% of the roughly 40 million acres of foreign-controlled farmland (about a third of which is held by Canada).
Headwaters Economics posted a study of property buyouts for flood mitigation, focusing on mobile home parks, a critical source of affordable housing that is often more vulnerable to flood risks than other kinds of housing. The study identified 12 buyout projects across the country to shed light on the challenges and identify possible reforms.
Events & Recordings
A reminder that the Project will be co-hosting the Fall 2024 Law and Rurality Workshop with Hannah Haksgaard at the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law. This year’s workshop will be held in person on Friday, November 16, 2024, at the University of Iowa thanks to our local hosts and sponsors, Brian Farrell and Daria Fisher Page. Submissions are due Friday, August 16, 2024, and more details are available here.
The Rural Journalism Collective, presented by The Rural Assembly and the Daily Yonder, is hosting a free webinar with tips on how journalists can tell more accurate stories about rural voters on Thursday, June 20, 2024. The conversation with be led by three panelists and will cover topics including voter polling conducted by the Center for Rural Strategies, Native and Indigenous voters, and how journalists can support rural poll workers. Register here.
