Transforming Places

by Fisher, Stephen L.; Smith, Barbara Ellen

• ISBN13: 9780252078385
• ISBN10: 0252078381
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-14
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In this era of globalization's ruthless deracination, place attachments have become increasingly salient in collective mobilizations across the spectrum of politics. Like place-based activists in other resource-rich yet impoverished regions across the globe, Appalachians are contesting economic injustice, environmental degradation, and the anti-democratic power of elites. This collection of seventeen original essays by scholars and activists from a variety of backgrounds explores this wide range of oppositional politics, querying its successes, limitations, and impacts. The editors' critical introduction and conclusion integrate theories of place and space with analyses of organizations and events discussed by contributors. Transforming Placesilluminates widely relevant lessons about building coalitions and movements with sufficient strength to challenge corporate-driven globalization. Contributors are Fran Ansley, Yaira Andrea Arias Soto, Dwight B. Billings, M. Kathryn Brown, Jeannette Butterworth, Paul Castelloe, Aviva Chomsky, Dave Cooper, Walter Davis, Meredith Dean, Elizabeth C. Fine, Jenrose Fitzgerald, Doug Gamble, Nina Gregg, Edna Gulley, Molly Hemstreet, Mary Hufford, Ralph Hutchison, Donna Jones, Ann Kingsolver, Sue Ella Kobak, Jill Kriesky, Michael E. Maloney, Lisa Markowitz, Linda McKinney, Ladelle McWhorter, Marta Maria Miranda, Chad Montrie, Maureen Mullinax, Phillip J. Obermiller, Rebecca O'Doherty, Cassie Robinson Pfleger, Randal Pfleger, Anita Puckett, Katie Richards-Schuster, June Rostan, Rees Shearer, Daniel Swan, Joe Szakos, Betsy Taylor, Thomas E. Wagner, Craig White, and Ryan Wishart.

Author Biography

Stephen L. Fisher is professor emeritus at Emory Henry College, where he founded and directed the Appalachian Center for Community Service. Barbara Ellen Smith is professor of women's and gender studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Invocation/Invocation	p. xi
Introduction: Placing Appalachia	p. 1
Go Tell it on the Mountains: Place, Identity, and Culture
Stop the Bombs: Local Organizing with Global Reach	p. 19
RAIL Solution: Taking on Halliburton on the Home Front	p. 32
This Land Is Your Land: Local Organizing and the Hegemony of Growth	p. 47
Identity Matters: Building an Urban Appalachian Movement in Cincinnati	p. 92
Appalachian Youth Re-envisioning Home, Re-making Identities	p. 78
Resistance through Community-based Arts	p. 92
Where no one Stand Alone Bridging Divides
Organizing Appalachian Women: Hope Lies in the StruggleMeredith DeanDean, MeredithEdna GulleyGulley, Edna	p. 109
The Southern Empowerment Project: Homegrown Organizing Gone Too Soon	p. 122
Center for Participatory Change: Cultivating Grassroots Support Organizing	p. 133
Faith-based Coalitions and Organized Labor: New Forms of Collaboration in the Twenty-first Century?	p. 148
Talking Union in Two Languages: Labor Rights and Immigrant Workers in East Tennessee	p. 164
Climbing Jacob's Ladder: Scaling Up
Virginia Organizing: The Action Is at the State Level	p. 183
OxyContin Flood in the Coalfields: "Searching for Higher Ground"	p. 198
Not Your Grandmother's Agrarianism: The Community Farm Alliance's Agrifood Activism	p. 210
Mountain Justice	p. 226
Who Knows? Who Tells? Creating a Knowledge Commons	p. 239
North and South: Struggles over Coal in Colombia and Appalachia	p. 267
Conclusion: Transformations in Place	p. 267
List of Contributors	p. 293
Index	p. 299
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