Reinventing Rural

New Realities in an Urbanizing World

Contributions by Leanne M. Avery, Stephanie Bennett, Matthew Clement Texas State University, Michael W.P. Fortunato, Gregory M. Fulkerson, Carrie L. Kane, Laura McKinney, Gene L. Theodori, Alexander R. Thomas, Aimee Vieira Norwich University, Fern K. Willits Edited by Alexander R. Thomas, Gregory M. Fulkerson

Publication date:

19 October 2016

Length of book:

246 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

238x160mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781498534093

Reinventing Rural is a collection of original research papers that examine the ways in which rural people and places are changing in the context of an urbanizing world. This includes exploring the role of the environment, the economy, and related issues such as tourism. While traditionally relying on primary sector work in agriculture, mining, natural resources, and the like, rural areas are finding new ways to sustain themselves. This involves a new emphasis on environmental protection, as one important strategy has been to capitalize on natural amenities to attract residents and tourists. Beyond improvements to the economy are general improvements to the quality-of-life in rural communities. Consistent with this, the volume focuses on the two cornerstones of education and health, considering current challenges and offering ideas for reinventing rural quality-of-life.

Part I. Cautionary Tales and the Costs of Traditional Rural Development
1. The Need to Reinvent Rural, Alexander R. Thomas and Gregory Fulkerson
2. Urban Dependency and Urbanormativity, Alexander R. Thomas
3. The Rural Mystique in American Society, Fern K. Willits, Gene L. Theodori, and Michael W.P. Fortunato
4. Reinventing Rural Environmental Justice, Laura McKinney
5. Urbanization, Land Use, and Environmental Change: A Sociological Perspective, Matthew Clement
6. Centralia, Pennsylvania: Disaster or Apathy? Carrie L. Kane and Alexander R. Thomas
Part II. Reinventing Rural in an Urbanizing World
7. Rural Economic Vitality, Gregory Fulkerson and Alexander R. Thomas
8. Build it and They Will Come? The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and Jay Peak Resort, Aimee Vieira
9. What do They Do up There? A Look at Two Non-Metropolitan Counties in New York State, Stephanie Bennett
10. Reframing Rural Education: Implications of the Rural Mystique and its Absence in Educational Policy, Leanne M. Avery and Michael W.P. Fortunato
Chapter 11. Doggonit, People Live Here! The Unmet Challenges of Rural Behavioral Health, James Zians
12. Conclusion: Reinventing Rural Revisited, Gregory Fulkerson and Alexander R. Thomas

A dozen sociologists and interdisciplinary interlocutors theorize recent and ongoing transformations of rural life, with an overall geographical focus on the eastern and northeastern US. Topics covered include health, education, the “rural mystique,” tourism, environment, and economic revitalization efforts. Among studies of rural change, this volume is notable for its attention to the effects of energy development in rural areas, with chapters dedicating some attention to mountaintop removal techniques in mining, former coal towns, and oil/gas extraction. Several of the authors make instructive use of the concept of “urbanormativity,” which they define as the widespread tendency to cast urban lifeways as the default, with a resulting rural dependence on cities and easy degradation of rural life. Although the volume is enriched by careful case studies, many contributors are not shy about long-term and large-scale theorization of rural change, linking contemporary transformations to patterns of rural/urban interaction that extend back to the Neolithic and are shaped by the “planetary boundaries” of biodiversity, the nitrogen cycle, and climate change. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, specialists.