Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

 Many households and communities in rural Appalachia engage  in diverse economic strategies that often are ignored in analyses of  economic restructuring in the region (Gaventa, Smith, and Willingham 1990; Obermiller and Philliber 1994). This paper highlights  the complex nature of rural economies and particularly informal

 activities that intersect with kinship and community-based social  networks. Different scales of economic activity are examined as  shifts in global capital impact and are influenced by local strategies  that include formal as well as informal activities. This analysis uses  a case study of a network of home-based machine-knitters to illus-

 trate these social and spatial …

Throughout the coalfields of central Appalachia, working-class people are engaging in alternative means of economic survival. For many, the region's endemic poverty is now worsening as tremendous job losses in coal mining diminish the historic source of employment for working -class men. In order to secure the necessities of life for themselves and their families, working-class women are not only entering the paid labor force but also turning to unregulated forms of income generation that lie outside the formal, wage-earning economy.

Locating Lydia's house in rural McDowell Country had been a challenge. We finally stopped at a small post office to ask directions and were directed to a house across a nearby stream. As we reached our destination, a dozen chickens, two goats, and several puppies greeted us in the front yard. Lydia stepped onto the side porch and invited us inside. "Be careful on the stairs," she warned, "my husband still hasn't fixed them rotten boards." Upon entering a small kitchen, Lydia showed us some pictures of the children in her home-based day care. In the living room, a coal-burning …