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. 

In Fears and Fences: Social and Material Barriers to Plains Bison on the Canadian Prairies, authors Forrest Hisey, Melissa Heppner (both Geography, Geomatics, and Environment, University of Toronto, Mississauga), and Andrea Olive (Political Science, University of Toronto, Mississauga) conduct a qualitative study to determine the largest barriers to the “rewilding” of bison on the Canadian Great Plains with a particular focus on the colonial attitudes that conflict with Indigenous groups’ efforts to reintroduce bison.