Ranalda L. Tsosie, Ke Wu, Anne D. Grant, Jennifer Harrington, Stephan T. Chase, Aaron Thomas, Damian Chase‐Begay, Salena Beaumont Hill, Annjeanette Belcourt, Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass‐She Kills
{"title":"A Growing Willow: The Six Rs Indigenous Research Framework—Stories of the Native American Faculty Journey in STEM*","authors":"Ranalda L. Tsosie, Ke Wu, Anne D. Grant, Jennifer Harrington, Stephan T. Chase, Aaron Thomas, Damian Chase‐Begay, Salena Beaumont Hill, Annjeanette Belcourt, Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass‐She Kills","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12576","url":null,"abstract":"Native American faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (NAF‐STEM) disciplines are historically underrepresented. Creating inclusive academia for Indigenous people that typically live and thrive in rural communities requires insights into their personal, relational, and collective experiences. This study was guided by the Six Rs: relationship, respect, responsibility, relevance, representation, and reciprocity, and was informed by Indigenous Research Methodologies. Twelve NAF‐STEM from tribal colleges and non‐tribal institutions were asked to share their perspectives and experiences in seven Research Circles. NAF‐STEM joined sequential hybrid workshops over seven weeks on how to conduct qualitative data analysis. Authors conducted analysis on the transcripts of Research Circles for themes associated with the professional satisfaction and success of NAF‐STEM. Results of the study identified the importance of holistic support systems that remain mindful of both the opportunities and challenges facing NAF‐STEM and emphasize the significance of balancing the need for respectful relationships, adequate representation, shared responsibility, relevance of diversity, and reciprocity in STEM. Through implementation of the Six Rs throughout the research process, the study identified successes, support systems, and challenges of NAF‐STEM at both tribal and non‐tribal colleges and universities. These outcomes can inform institutions to create an equitable and inclusive environment for NAF‐STEM.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142694105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Germán Jaraíz‐Arroyo, Esteban Ruíz‐Ballesteros, María Cristina Gálvez García
{"title":"Eco‐Esteem and Depopulation: Broadening the Perspective on the Demographic Challenge in the Rural World*","authors":"Germán Jaraíz‐Arroyo, Esteban Ruíz‐Ballesteros, María Cristina Gálvez García","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12575","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12575","url":null,"abstract":"The dynamics of contemporary rural depopulation have been explained and addressed mainly as a result of structural transformations brought about by economic globalization. The influence of cultural/relational aspects has been less present in the scientific literature, where much of the analysis has been concerned with questions such as the effect of bond and attachment to the local. In connection with this matter, our paper explores how the interactions between social capital and community resilience dynamics affect decisions to leave or stay. The paper finds that the link between social capital and local resilience strategies is mediated by interdependent pattern. To understand how these connections are shaped and operate, we propose the notion of <jats:italic>eco‐esteem</jats:italic>, understanding it as a pattern of linkages with the socio‐ecosystem, determined by relationships and practices, which conditions people's attitudes, behaviors, expectations and, ultimately, their decisions to stay in or leave the rural world. To demonstrate the usefulness of this theoretical‐methodological perspective, we present a qualitative ethnographic case study in two municipalities in Extremadura (Spain), which are similar in their socio‐demographic characteristics, but which experience significantly different depopulation dynamics.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"197 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142673154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards an Emplaced Vocabulary of Motive: Senses of Place and Land Sale Decision‐Making in the Northern Great Plains*","authors":"Danielle Schmidt","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12574","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12574","url":null,"abstract":"One of the most remote regions in the contiguous United States, the Upper Missouri River Breaks in the Northern Great Plains of Montana is both “cattle country” and “pristine prairie”: an identity that brings repeated tension over land use. Over the last twenty years, a conservation organization with a mission to rewild the region has purchased thousands of acres of ranchland from willing sellers despite widespread agricultural community resistance. In this study, I interview those who chose to sell and those who chose to stay, and I ask how landowners justify their decisions to sell, or not sell, their land. By using what C. Wright Mills calls “vocabularies of motive,” I investigate two central questions. The first asks why a landowner would sell land against what social norms would dictate to be “right.” The second asks why a landowner would not sell land, given the perceived inevitable eventual loss of a regional agricultural livelihood. I suggest one way to understand these questions is by considering how senses of place shape what decision‐makers believe to be the most justifiable course of action. Extending the vocabulary of motive framework to include senses of place better informs the understanding of land sale decision‐making. Though deeply contextual, the themes running through this case (i.e., ongoing existential threats to the agricultural industry, booms in the buying power of private philanthropists, and decision making in socially and politically contentious spaces) are relevant to a broader understanding of shifts within agricultural communities and the ongoing perceived “battle” between production and conservation.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142643192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Saving the Wild or Saving the Cowboy? Cultural Conflict between the Old and Nouveau West*","authors":"John Canfield","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12572","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12572","url":null,"abstract":"In North Central Montana, a land‐based conflict centered on the environmental organization American Prairie sparked the formation of the “Save the Cowboy, Stop the American Prairie Reserve” Facebook page, attracting posts and comments from ranchers and members of the area's agriculture‐dependent communities. Despite Montana's rapid amenity migration and rural gentrification, this region has largely maintained its Old West culture. Consequently, Save the Cowboy members often express frustration about how American Prairie's large‐scale rewilding initiative and land acquisitions affect the region's rural communities. In this qualitative content analysis, concerns about preserving the Old West culture and avoiding the New West transformation dominated Save the Cowboy's Facebook posts and comments (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 1,002), even compared to the ostensibly more concerning economic and ecological issues. By describing a social space marked by cultural antagonisms between Old West insiders and New West outsiders, this study points to the dangers of essentializing Old West‐New West conflicts. Illustrating how Old West insiders deploy their cultural capital to contest rural change, it also expands the Old West‐New West typology by proposing the term “Nouveau West” to capture how Old West insiders assert dominance by disparaging newcomers who lack the requisite knowledge of how things are done locally.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142490905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Blake Lavia, Tzintzun Aguilar‐Izzo, Leanne M. Avery
{"title":"The Watersheds Speak: The Voice of Ecosystems in Northern New York's Environmental Movements☆","authors":"Blake Lavia, Tzintzun Aguilar‐Izzo, Leanne M. Avery","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12560","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores how connectivity to place has brought life to contemporary environmental struggles in what is now known as New York State. Layers of memory, colonization, and stewardship are embedded within a community's relationship with their environment. By focusing on two case studies, the authors will illustrate how this relationship shaped successful place‐based resistance. Throughout our work, we offer the alternative methodology of ecocentric storytelling and artistic representation to elevate the voice of both ecosystems and all their inhabitants. Both case studies are centered on environmental/social movements that foreground the inherent personhood of the natural world. The first will focus on the Ashokan Reservoir, in the Catskill Mountains, on land guarded by the Lenape. It is a location that has suffered multiple waves of colonization and successfully resisted a large damming operation. The second case study will be centered on the Upper St. Lawrence River/Kaniatarowanénhne Watershed, Haudenosaunee Territory, where rural communities are uniting to grant Rights to the Rivers that bring life to their communities. Both cases exemplify the story of communities that defended their livelihoods and environments by uniting with their most reliable allies, the Water, and all their more‐than‐human guardians.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142488725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Clint Carroll, Andrew Curley, Doreen E. Martinez, Lindsey Schneider, Johann Strube
{"title":"Indigenous Perspectives on Dismantling the Legacies of Settler Colonialism in Rural Sociology☆","authors":"Clint Carroll, Andrew Curley, Doreen E. Martinez, Lindsey Schneider, Johann Strube","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12573","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12573","url":null,"abstract":"Rural Sociology has failed to incorporate Settler‐colonialism and Indigenous theory in studying rural social relations. This presents a serious gap in the discipline's conceptualization of land as the foundation of social reproduction. Indigenous theory provides rich insights about humans' relations among themselves and with the more‐than‐human that inform our understanding of Settler colonialism as a driver of social formation, and human–environmental interactions more generally. This paper, written by four Indigenous environmental social scientists and one Settler rural sociologist, invites the discipline to engage Indigeneity and Settler colonialism in methodologically, theoretically, and ethically appropriate ways.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142448162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shardul Tiwari, Zoē Ketola, Chelsea Schelly, Eric Boyer‐Cole
{"title":"Energy Service Security for Public Health Resilience: Perception and Concerns in Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan☆","authors":"Shardul Tiwari, Zoē Ketola, Chelsea Schelly, Eric Boyer‐Cole","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12571","url":null,"abstract":"The Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan includes six rural counties and one Tribal Nation. The region is characterized by long winters, legacies of the extractive mining economy, and the infrastructural features of extreme rurality, including aging housing and low health service density. The region also faces exceptionally high electricity prices. There is limited research on the public health implications of energy service disruption in rural regions resulting from the increasing intensity and frequency of weather events caused by climate change. This article presents research findings examining the readiness of health facilities in this area to manage the rising intensity, severity, and frequency of severe weather that could disrupt energy services. The study also considers how this knowledge can guide decision‐making to improve energy service access and maintain resilient public health services in the region. This exploratory study utilized a qualitative approach that combines semi‐structured interviews with public health stakeholders and a short survey to triangulate the findings from health facilities. Given the pivotal role of dependable energy services in community health, these findings underscore the community's perception of self‐reliance as both an asset and a hurdle. This perception aligns with the realities of rural communities at the “end of the line” regarding critical infrastructure, which also serves as a formidable barrier to social organization and infrastructure access during energy service disruptions that can severely impact public health.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142384370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah Halpern‐Meekin, Seungmi L. Cho, Grace Landrum, Adam Talkington
{"title":"The Dignity of Nonworking Men*","authors":"Sarah Halpern‐Meekin, Seungmi L. Cho, Grace Landrum, Adam Talkington","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12570","url":null,"abstract":"Studies have demonstrated the centrality of work and dignity in men's understanding of themselves and their place in society, especially in rural areas. However, previous studies of work and identity among men have generally drawn from the perspectives of the employed. From interviews with nonmetro prime‐age men (25–54 years old) who were out of the formal labor force (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 61), we find that men present themselves as deserving of dignified treatment. They do so by drawing on the values of work—describing themselves as skilled, hard workers with a strong sense of personal responsibility. Ironically, this sense of self‐worth can conflict with them remaining in the formal labor force because of how they are treated and how others conduct themselves on the job. In this rural setting, hegemonic market‐based values guide men even when outside the institution of work, yet some men find they can only resolve tension between these values and the realities of employment outside the formal labor market.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142384027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Family Farmers as Agents in the Struggle for Survival: A Case Study from Turkey☆","authors":"Ebru Sevgili Canpolat","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12568","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12568","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the survival strategies of small family farms in a western Anatolian village in the context of ongoing debates in the current literature concerning the future of small or peasant family farms under the conditions of the neoliberal era. The main argument of the paper is that even though the neoliberal agrarian policies in Turkey put into effect since the early 1980s have divested farmers of much of the protective policies in force in earlier periods—thereby putting them under much severe market pressures—other pressure mechanisms in this case under investigation have a more central impact on their survival. These pressures are the patterns of social and cultural change that occur due to modernization, alongside regulations concerning access to land which the farmers seem to be able to counter by organizing and mobilizing their internal, material, and social resources, within cultural norms. The arguments presented are based on the analysis of empirical data collected through field work carried out in a village of farmers specializing and engaged in the production of dried figs. The study emphasizes the multi‐causal, multi‐layered, contingent, and hybrid nature of the question of survival for these villagers and argues that it should be evaluated as a process, rather than an outcome, with the villagers themselves as agents in this process.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"332 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142245468","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laticia J. Herkshan, Georgia M. Hart‐Fredeluces, Elizabeth A. Redd, TJ Tso, Morey Burnham
{"title":"Shared Ideals, But Persistent Barriers: Improving Tribal‐University Research Engagement to Strengthen Native Nation Building and Rural Development☆","authors":"Laticia J. Herkshan, Georgia M. Hart‐Fredeluces, Elizabeth A. Redd, TJ Tso, Morey Burnham","doi":"10.1111/ruso.12559","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12559","url":null,"abstract":"Research partnerships between Tribal Nations and rural colleges and universities can support rural development and strengthen Tribal Nation building through reclamation of economic, political, cultural, and social affairs. However, Tribal Nation–University relationships have received little attention in rural sociology. While scholars identify best practices for research engagement in light of colonial harms, the ideal visions that Tribally and university‐affiliated people have for research partnerships and the barriers to achieving those ideals are poorly understood. Without identifying these visions and barriers, we risk making wrong assumptions about each party's needs and cannot implement appropriate policies. Semi‐structured interviews with Tribally‐affiliated (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 20) and university‐affiliated (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 20) people in rural southeastern Idaho suggest, contrary to literature on best practices for collaborative research, that participants in both groups viewed what we term “Tribally‐responsive research engagement” as ideal, though few projects met this goal. Tribally‐responsive research directly addressed Tribal priorities but did not necessarily involve close collaboration. The University's failure to acknowledge past or colonial harms, university‐affiliated researchers' historicization of those harms, and negative Native student experiences reinforced distrust, limiting desired research engagement. In sum, Tribally‐responsive research engagement could strengthen Native Nation building, but requires universities to acknowledge harms, create more welcoming campus environments, and prioritize Tribal benefits in research.","PeriodicalId":47924,"journal":{"name":"RURAL SOCIOLOGY","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142231196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}