On Friday, October 9, 2026, Professor Hannah Haksgaard welcomed participants to the University of South Dakota’s campus in Vermillion for the Law & Rurality Workshop. The Law & Rurality Workshop is an annual event in partnership with the Rural Reconciliation Project (University of Nebraska College of Law) and the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law.
This year, sessions were held in person in South Dakota in both the historic Old Main building and the striking National Music Museum.
The workshop brought together scholars from across the country to discuss in-progress drafts or incubator projects exploring research related to law and rurality. Commentators, including members of USD Law and the University’s Political Science department, began conversations on each draft, highlighting significant ideas and potential avenues for further discussion. The workshop also incorporated a large group discussion on teaching, inviting participants to share their experiences teaching courses focused on law and rurality.
As part of their South Dakota experience, participants had the opportunity to view works by the influential twentieth-century Indigenous artist Oscar Howe, take in a live performance of Latin American Renaissance and Baroque music at the National Music Museum, and enjoy dinner at an eatery famous for its broasted chicken and a hiking excursion at the historically significant Spirit Mound.
Workshop conversations explored research on how rurality shapes legal institutions and access to justice, as well as questions involving civil and constitutional rights, incarceration, democracy, housing and land use, Indigenous rights, and legal history. This year’s workshop included the following projects and participants:
Rurality/Urbanicity, and the Changing Landscape and Impact of American Incarceration – Margo Schlanger (Michigan Law) & Emily Prifogle (Michigan Law)
Is Rural Authoritarianism a Myth? – Greg Brazeal (USD Law)
The Unzoned County – Kellen Zale (Houston Law)
The Courage of Ordinary Judging: Chief District Court Judge George T. Mickelson and Indian Law Litigation in the Termination Era – Alex Hagen (USD Law)
The Rural Constitution: Enforcing Civil Rights in the Country – Bailey Barnes (Missouri Law)
Rural Privacy Desert – Shaun Jamison (Purdue Global Law)
A Small-Town Ordinance and a Big-Time Constitutional Question: Skrmetti, De Jure Discrimination, and Vermillion, South Dakota – Hannah Haksgaard (USD Law)
US v. Clapox: Colonialism and Native Women’s Resistance – Ann Tweedy (USD Law)
Rural Impacts of Licensure Reform – Brian Farrell (Iowa Law)
Institutional Infrastructure and the Persistence of Rural Legal Deserts – Cory Dodds (Kentucky Law)
No Still Life – Emily Prifogle (Michigan Law)
The Rural Debacle: How Government Manufactured Geographic Inequality and Undermined Democracy – Ann Eisenberg (WVU Law)
Rural Justice – Lisa Pruitt (UC Davis Law)
From Modular to Manufactured? Chassis-Free Homes After the ROAD to Housing Act – Brittany Kjerstad McKnight (USD Law)
Commentators included Tom Mrozla (USD Political Science), Julia Hellwege (USD Political Science), Sean Kammer (USD Law), Neil Fulton (USD Law), Sabrina Ehmke Sergeant (Nebraska Law), and Tyler Moore (USD Law).
Participants exchanged feedback on their work, clarifying findings and refining arguments and approaches while encountering a slice of rural South Dakota. The care workshop cohost Professor Haksgaard brought to this year’s gathering was evident throughout our time in Vermillion.
In 2027, the workshop will convene online. Please watch for next year’s Call for Papers. The next in-person workshop is anticipated for Fall 2028, at a location to be determined.
Visit our Law & Rurality Workshop page for details of previous and upcoming workshops.
