| |
Appalachian Economic and Social Development
A Socioeconomic Assessment of Contemporary Appalachia
Researchers: Andrew Isserman, Research Professor; Dwight Billings, Professor of Sociology, University of Kentucky; Ronald Lewis, Eberly Professor of History; Brian Cushing, Associate Professor of Economics; Cynthia Rogers, Research Assistant Professor; Rodney Erickson, Professor of Geography, Pennsylvania State University; Kim Mencken, Graduate Research Assistant
External Funding: Appalachian Regional Commission
In its influential 1964 report, Appalachia, the President's Appalachian Regional Commission characterized Appalachia as a "region apart geographically and statistically." It stressed the region's low income, lack of urbanization, high unemployment, lack of jobs, deficits in education and living standards, and declines in population. That characterization became the basis of a regional development policy aimed at "the introduction of Appalachia and its people into fully active membership in the American society." For three decades now, the Appalachian Regional Commission has followed a comprehensive regional development policy, emphasizing highways and other infrastructure as well as health, education, and other social services.
This socioeconomic assessment is being conducted for the Appalachian Regional Commission to help it chart its progress and design its program. The general finding is that much of Appalachia no longer lags the nation. Indeed, major parts of Appalachia are growing faster than the nation in employment, are attracting high paying jobs in growing industries, and are exporting their products abroad. As a whole and on many measures, Appalachia is no longer a region apart. Yet, the problems documented in the 1964 report still persist in parts of Appalachia, particularly the central subregion focused on eastern Kentucky and portions of Tennessee and West Virginia.
Selected Publications:
-
Andrew Isserman. 1997. Appalachia Then and Now: Update of the "Realities of Deprivation" Reported to the President in 1964. Journal of Appalachian Studies 3,1: 43-69.
-
Ronald L. Lewis and Dwight B. Billings. 1997. Appalachian Culture and Economic Development: A Retrospective View on the Theory and Literature. Journal of Appalachian Studies 3,1: 3-42.
-
Brian Cushing. 1997. Migration and Persistent Poverty in Rural America: A Case Study from Central Appalachia. Regional Research Institute Working Paper 9716.
-
Andrew M. Isserman. 1996. The Evolving Appalachian Economy. Socio-Economic Review of Appalachia: Report prepared for the Appalachian Regional Commission.
-
Brian Cushing and Cynthia Rogers. 1996. The Appalachian Labor Force; and Income and Poverty in Appalachia. Socio-Economic Review of Appalachia: Report prepared for the Appalachian Regional Commission.
-
Rodney A. Erickson, Samuel X. Lowe, and David J. Hayward. 1996. Appalachian Competitiveness in a Global Economy. Socio-Economic Review of Appalachia: Report prepared for the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Researchers: Ann Oberhauser, Associate Professor of Geography; Anne-Marie Turnage, Amy Pratt, Graduate Research Assistants; Beth Taylor and Branka Jikich, NSF Undergraduate Research Fellows
External Funding: National Science Foundation
The research on marketing and production networks is an extension of previous work on home-based work among women in rural Appalachia. Many of the women participating in the study have been involved in economic networks and community-based activities to produce and market their goods and services. The project will examine the social, spatial, and economic levels of organization within these networks using four approaches. First, the research will analyze the connections between economic networks and their markets, specifically the location, size and frequency of orders. Lack of markets is a significant barrier to the development of networks, especially in relatively depressed economies such as rural Appalachia. Second, the project will examine the impact of these income-generating activities on household and community economies. The money earned by these women is almost exclusively used to meet collective household needs. In contrast, studies have shown that men tend to retain a considerable portion of their income for personal consumption. Given the gender composition of the networks, it will be useful to demonstrate the importance of these activities to both households and communities. This analysis will inform economic development efforts in West Virginia about how resources can be most effectively channeled to support these economic activities through training programs, marketing strategies, and access to financial capital. Third, while each network has its unique approach or organization of production and marketing, it would benefit from sharing its experiences, successes, and/or failures with other networks. Through this project, several of the networks could make connections to share information such as marketing strategies, production techniques, and other relevant information. Fourth, the information gathered from this research will be used in cross-cultural comparisons with similar networks in other lagging regions in Spain and South Africa.
Selected Publications:
-
Oberhauser, Ann M. 1998. Gender inequalities and development discourse: Women and work in Appalachian communities. In Gender, Planning and Human Rights: The Fragilities of Equality and Difference in Planning and Development for Multi-Cultured Societies, ed., T. Fenster. New York: Routledge.
-
Oberhauser, Ann M., and A. M. Turnage. 1998. Weaving the socio-economic fabric of women's lives in Central and Southern Appalachia. In Links of Iron, Links of Gold, The Social Relations of Southern Women,ed., B. E. Smith. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
-
Oberhauser, Ann M. 1997. The Home as 'Field': Researching households and homework in rural Appalachia. In Thresholds in Feminist Research: Difference, Methodology, and Representation,eds, J. P. Jones III, H. J. Nast, and S. M. Roberts. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
-
Ann Oberhauser, A. L. Waugh, and C. Weiss. 1996. Gender Analysis and Economic Development in West Virginia. West Virginia Public Affairs Reporter 13,2: 2-13.
Undergraduate Research Papers:
-
Branka A. Jikich. 1996. Domestic Violence as a Growing Societal Concern in West Virginia: Contextual, Historical, and Economic Linkages. Regional Research Institute Working Paper 9619.
-
Beth Taylor. 1995. The Feminization of Poverty in West Virginia. Regional Research Institute Working Paper 9528.
Transformation of the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Timbering, and Deforestation in West Virginia, 1880-1930
Researchers: Ronald Lewis, Eberly Professor of History; John Kamarados, NSF Undergraduate Research Fellow
This research examines the social, political, economic, and environmental consequences of deforestation and related industrial processes in West Virginia. In 1880 about two thirds of the state remained under cover of the ancient growth forest. By the late 1920s, the logging companies and railroads had removed virtually all of the primeval forest in the state. This process had far-reaching consequences for West Virginia's economy. Indeed, one of the taproots of today's poverty reaches back to that transformation from subsistence agriculture to a market economy.
Selected Publications:
-
Ronald L. Lewis. 1998. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia, 1880-1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
-
Ronald L. Lewis and Dwight B. Billings. 1997. Appalachian Culture and Economic Development: A Retrospective View on the Theory and Literature. Journal of Appalachian Studies.3: 3-42.
-
Ronald L. Lewis and John C. Hennen, Jr., eds. 1996. West Virginia: Documents in the History of a Rural-Industrial State. Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company.
-
Ronald L. Lewis. 1995. Transforming the Appalachian Countryside: Railroads and Timbering in West Virginia, 1880-1920. In Capitalist Transformation in Appalachia, eds., Dwight Billings, Mary Beth Pudup, and Altina Waller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
-
Ronald Lewis. 1993. Appalachian Restructuring in Historical Perspective: Coal, Culture and Social Change in West Virginia. Urban Studies 30,2: 299-308.
-
Ronald Lewis. 1993. West Virginia History: Critical Essays on the Literature, eds., Ronald L. Lewis and John C. Hennen, Jr. Dubuque: Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company.
Undergraduate Research Paper:
-
John Kamarados. 1996. Did the West Virginia Supreme Court Subsidize the Railroad Industry? Regional Research Institute Working Paper 9609.
Back to List of Research Projects
|
|
