Law and the Urban/Rural Divide
Ann Eisenberg
West Virginia University College of Law
We often hear about the “urban/rural divide” as a key driver in today’s politics, cultural polarization, and other societal fault lines. But what is the urban/rural divide? What is its significance to law and policy? Drawing on the emerging field of Law and Rurality, this course takes students on a deep dive into the idea of the urban/rural divide. The course is organized around a series of questions: How is the urban/rural divide defined? What historical, legal, political, and economic forces help explain its development? How do race, gender, national origin, and other intersectional identities come into play? What are potential approaches to trying to “mend” the divide in law, policy, and other contexts?
Through readings, discussion, additional in-class activities, and an in-depth writing assignment on a topic of students’ choosing, students will leave the course with deeper understanding and analytical skills concerning the evolution of rural communities in society, urban/rural interdependence, and the ways law, policy, and place interact both in a theoretical sense and in ways that affect legal practitioners. The course will survey a broad range of legal areas and policies implicated by the urban/rural divide, ranging from environmental and agricultural law, to civil rights and election law, to transportation and utilities law, and other areas. We will also draw on sociological literature and contemplate how the state of West Virginia factors into policies and narratives relevant to the urban/rural divide.