Big Rural

Crystal Cook Marshall is director at The North Carolina AgrAbility Partnership (NC AgrAbility) and is faculty at North Carolina A&T State University.

This fascinating work focuses on the coalfields of West Virginia through a social-technical lens that traces the connections between industrial rural spaces and the larger culture. As part of a series on urban-rural dynamics, Big Rural supports the theme of "rural places, resources, and people being exploited—at a distance—for urban benefit." This work is valuable for examining the "cultural meaning of industry," deconstructing the equation of rural with white male workers and using an empirical approach that incorporates field research and interviews with miners and energy engineers in the Pocahontas Coalfield. Cook Marshall includes interlude sections with words from the individuals living in these communities, who are often absent or excluded from research and representation. The biggest conclusion she draws is how "fossil fuel and other natural resource extraction industries" shape regional culture and space through the mechanisms of science and technology. She posits that the absent capitalists create systems that transform rural places and spaces and result in "severe social, cultural, economic, and environmental consequences, which can be highly damaging and detrimental." Highly informative and well written, this work finds gaps in the research, describes coalfield realities, and offers strategies for correcting damage to rural communities. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; two-year technical program students.

• Table of ContentsForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter One: Technology and the State of the State in the Pocahontas CoalfieldInterlude One: Jason Tartt, Sr.Chapter Two: Scientific Promises and Prosperity: Constructing Big RuralInterlude Two: Atlas CharlesChapter Three: Democratic Possibilities and Policies in Big RuralChapter Four: So, What of a National Rural Strategy? Interlude Three: Amelia BandyChapter Five: Toward a National Sustainable Agricultural StrategyInterlude Four: A White Paper as Community ActConclusion: Research, Resources, Revealing, Redefining, RemakingEpilogueAppendicesGlossaryBibliographyAbout the Author