Don’t Need Their Coal

Abstract

This chapter evaluates contemporary homesteading and rural subsistence in eastern Kentucky as a form of activism and resistance. It argues that homesteading alone is not a particularly effective means of changing larger socioeconomic structures, such as capitalism and plutocracy. However, homesteading, when pursued with skill, is capable of surprising achievements: it can be an effective means of reducing a household’s reliance upon the mainstream economy; shifting work away from wage labor; fostering frugality; bringing homesteaders into closer interaction with the natural world; and serving as a living laboratory for appropriate technologies. These are real accomplishments that explain the continued attraction of this particular form of activism.