Digests
In Feed it to the Ocean: The Federal Approach to Decommissioning in Alaska Native Climate Adaptation Project, Sophia Tilder (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Law) highlights the importance of decommissioning existing infrastructure when planning relocation, managed retreat, and protect-in-place (RMP) projects for environmentally threatened Native communities in rural Alaska.
In Catching Nutrients in a Net: Collective Action, Institutional Impediments, and the Mississippi River Watershed, Jonathan Rosenbloom (Albany Law School) investigates the role of local governments in the regulation of pollution in the Mississippi River Watershed. In his analysis, Rosenbloom goes beyond the traditional “tragedy of the commons” explanation for local government action and instead looks to the dynamics of federal and state regulations that preempt local governments.
In Know Your Rights! A Field Experiment on Legal Knowledge, Property Rights, and Investment in Kenya, Adam Aberra and Matthieu Chemin (both Economics, McGill University, Montreal) illustrate the impact of legal trainings regarding property rights on landowners in Kenya and emphasize that this low-cost intervention increases security in property rights and promotes economic development.
In Legal Deserts and Spatial Injustice: A Study of Criminal Legal Systems in Rural Washington, authors Lisa R. Pruitt (University of California Davis Law), Jennifer Sherman, and Jennifer Schwartz (both Sociology, Washington State) delve into the criminal legal systems across several rural counties in eastern Washington to understand the problems these communities face and how those problems impact legal representation for indigent defendants.
In A World-Threatening Feeling: Grief, Moral Injury, and Institutional Loss in Rural Courts, author Michele Statz (Minnesota Medical School and Minnesota Law) examines how technologies first implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reshape rural judicial systems. Statz argues these tools contribute to a loss of connection between rural judges, attorneys, court staff, and parties which further undermines the sense of purpose many rural practitioners once felt in their work.
In Rural Geography I: Why Should Rural Geographers ‘Care’?Susanne Stenbacka (Human Geography, Uppsala University, Sweden) explores the existing literature discussing the concept of care and its intersection with rural geography. Stenbacka encourages rural geographers to incorporate care theory into their research, arguing that care can be used both as a tool and a lens through which to view the challenges faced by rural spaces.
In Natural Resource Policy and Collaborative Processes, Crystal M. Callahan and Katherine M. Himes (both Public Policy Research, University of Idaho) advocate for introducing collaborative governance to the natural resource policy process. The authors explore several successful Idaho case studies in which collective governance was utilized to address “wicked problems” plaguing Idaho’s natural resource policy.
In The Dark Side of the Balloon: Restrictions on Foreign Investment in US Farmland, Sarah Everhart (Delaware Law) argues that legislators should shift their focus from preventing foreign ownership of US farmland to supporting domestic farmers’ access to farmland.
In Rural Politics in the United States, authors Trevor E. Brown and Suzanne Mettler (both Government, Cornell University) survey recent literature on rural politics and recommend a broader lens to better understand the impact of place on voters. They discuss the current state of rural politics literature, how to measure place and rurality, the role of public opinion, and recommend a comparative approach for future rural studies.
In Women smallholders build an agroecology food system: the construction of empowerment and food sovereignty, Chukwuma Ume, Ernst-August Nuppenau, Stéphanie Domptail (all Agricultural Policy and Market Research, Justus-Liebig University Giessen), and Stefan Wahlen (Consumer Research, Communication and Food Sociology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen) investigate the relation between women smallholder farmers food systems and the global industrialization of agri-food systems.
In Provincial Diffusion, National Acceptance: The Transfer of Conservation Easement Policy in Canada, author Forrest Hisey (Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, University of Toronto) surveys the development of conservation easement (CE) legislation development in Canada to understand the state of CE policy as well as policy diffusion methods leading to this development.
In Neo-Rurals and Tourism in the Context of Rural Crisis in Southern Europe. Case Study in the Sierra de Aracena (Andalusia, Spain), authors José Manuel Álvarez-Montoya and Esteban Ruiz-Ballesteros (both Social Anthropology, Psychology and Public Health, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain) explore the influence of neo-rurals and tourism on a rural Spanish community to highlight how an influx of newcomers can benefit rural areas.
In Buying Time, authors Christopher J. Ryan, Jr. (Indiana Law) and Cassie Chambers Armstrong (Louisville Law) set out to consider how both access to legal representation and extended length of proceedings result in more favorable outcomes for tenants facing eviction proceedings and identify whether the same is true for rural communities.
In Consuming Newton County: A Short History, Lisa R. Pruitt (University of California-Davis Law) presents a history of economic evolution and the concomitant tensions between consumerism and conservation in rural Newton County, Arkansas. Tucked away in the Boston Mountains and the home of the Buffalo National River’s headwaters, Newton County is home to 8,000 residents and has long attracted the attention of nature conservation and recreational tourism groups alike.
In Economic Development for Native Nevada: How Indian Gaming Can Further Tribal Self-Determination, author Makai Zuniga (J.D. Candidate, Nevada, Las Vegas Law) examines the historical and ongoing economic barriers faced by Nevada’s Indigenous tribes and proposes strategies for rural tribes to enter the gaming market despite restrictive regulations.
In Trading Acres, Jessica A. Shoemaker (Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and James Fallows Tierney (Law, Illinois Institute of Technology) address the growing trend of financialization of farmland.
In Broadband Internet Speed Upgrades and the Farmland Market: A Shift-Share Instrumental Variable Approach, authors Xiaorui Qu, Qinan Lu, Minghao Li, and Wendong Zhang (all College of Economics and Management, China) conduct an empirical analysis of the impact of investment in broadband internet on the value of America’s farmland.
In How Service Exclusion Affects Rural Depopulation. An Approach Based on Structural Equation Modeling, M. Pilar Alonso (Geography, History and History of Art, Universitat de Lleida), Pilar Gargallo, Jesús A. Miguel, Manual Salvador (all Applied Economics, Universidad de Zaragoza), Luis Lample (Accounting and Finance, Universidad de Zaragoza), and Carlos López Escolano (Geography and Territorial Planning, Universidad de Zaragoza) present an analysis of rural depopulation trends in the Aragon region of Spain.
In Financial Incentives and Landowner Interest in Reforesting Open Lands in the Southeastern United States, authors Chloe Schnieder and Nina Randazzo (Environmental Defense Fund), Ram Kumar Adhikari (Forestry, Mississippi State University), and Neelam Chandra Poudyal (Natural Resources, University of Tennessee) examine the factors influencing landowners’ willingness to participate in reforestation programs.
In It’s on All the Time in Our House: Police Scanners and Everyday Rural Life, author Michael Branch (Sociology, Hartwick College) explores the long-time use of police scanners by laypeople in a rural town in upstate New York. He argues that, despite the perceived community benefits, there are also unforeseen consequences for those living in the community.
In Intersection of Race and Rurality with Health Care-Associated Infections and Subsequent Outcomes, authors Katelin B. Nickel, MPH, Hannah Kinzer, MPH, Anne Butler, PhD, MS, Kren E. Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, Victoria J. Fraser, MD, Jason P. Burnham, MD, MSCI, Jennie H. Kwon, DO, MSCI (all Washington University) examine how social and geographic factors such as race and rurality affect access to equitable healthcare.
In Towards a right to the rural?, Levi Van Sant (Integrative Studies, George Mason University) and Madeleine Fairbairn (Environmental Studies, University of California – Santa Cruz) explore the conceptual framework of ‘a right to the rural’ to clarify struggles to access rural spaces.
In Indian Country Lawyers: A South Dakota Survery, authors Hannah Haksgaard and Bryce Drapeaux (both South Dakota Law) address the access to justice crisis experienced by Native American communities in South Dakota. They present data on the lack of available, licensed Native American attorneys on and near reservations to develop an accurate understanding of the extent of the shortage.
In Small and Rural Local Government Environmental Sustainability Plans, Programs and Policies in Cascadia: A Comparative Analysis, Erika Allen Wolters, Brent S. Steel, and Sadaf Farooq (all Public Policy, Oregon State), and Tamara Krawchenko (Public Administration, University of Victoria) examine the environmental sustainability efforts of small and local governments within the “Cascadia” region which spans British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington.
In Ethnographic Research: Immersing Oneself in the Rural Environment, Michele Statz (Minnesota Medical School/Law) and William Garriott (Law, Politics, and Society, Drake University) present ethnography as an effective method for the study of rural criminal justice. They argue that through its expectation of extended engagement in everyday life among a population, ethnography offers a means of assessing the thick social ties and thin institutional infrastructures that define the criminal justice system in rural communities. By exploring relationships, ethnographical studies contextualize structural and cultural conditions and reveal unique insights about life and crime in rural spaces.
In Beyond the Agro-export Boom: The Challenges of Land Concentration and Fragmentation in Chile, Eduardo Villavincencio-Pinto (Kent Law School, UK) examines the neoliberal rural property regime in modern Chile and its implications for how the country can meet the challenges of climate change. The author conducted a study of rural Chilean property ownership, evaluating two main trends: land concentration and land fragmentation. Employing a historical, cartographic, and socio-legal approach, Villavincencio-Pinto shows how both trends have had negative effects on the rural landscape in Chile and challenges the sustainability of this foundational system.
In Learning the Rural Practice of Law, author Ashli R. Tomisich (Wyoming Law) discusses the lack of experiential learning in the law school curriculum and how this gap contributes to students being unprepared to enter rural practice.
In Persistently Poor, Left-behind and Chronically Disconnected, Kenan Fikri (Economic Innovation Group), provides an analysis of persistent poverty in places across the United States, focusing on multiple factors contributing to the disconnection [SE1] of these areas from the rest of the US. Disconnection refers to a lack of social and economic ties, leading to isolation from the greater economy.
In Moving Water: Managed Retreat of Wester Agricultural Water Rights for Instream Flows, authors Stephanie Stern (Arizona Law) and A. Dan Tarlock (Chicago Kent College of Law) discuss the current state of water rights in the West and advocate for a change in federal policy to reallocate Western water rights to address the effects of the “megadrought.”
In Reimagining Rural Health Equity: Understanding Disparities And Orienting Policy, Practice, And Research In Rural America, Anne N. Sosin and Elizabeth A. Carpenter-Song (Both Anthropology, Dartmouth College) argue that advancing rural health equity beyond the pandemic requires understanding the underlying problems that create rural disparities and redesigning the policies and practices that encourage the rural disadvantage.