IIn “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.