Rural Sociology Commons^™

The Impact Of Rurality, Community Attachment, And Community Involvement On Health Among Rural Texans, Jin Young Choi, E. Miranda Reiter, Gene L. Theodori

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This study examines the differences in three health status indicators by rurality and the effects of community attachment and involvement on health among rural residents in Texas. We use the 2013 Texas Rural Survey (TRS) data, which include information on a representative sample of 757 rural Texas residents. The results show that the three health status indicators – self-rated general health, functional status of physical health, and functional status of mental health – are predicted by different factors. Overall, residents in small places often reported better health than those in medium-sized and large places. Community attachment and involvement were shown …

Outgoing Editor's Concluding Comments, Douglas H. Constance

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Health And Occupational Hazards Of Rural Women In Nigeria, Taiwo Grace Odeleye

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

In Nigeria, few research studies have been documented on the health and occupational hazards of rural women with its implication on rural productivity. Women are often incapacitated by occupational hazards that interact with other causes of illness to produce a wide range of adverse outcomes. The increasing morbidity common among women has greatly impaired rural potential for optimum production. Hence, this review seeks to analyze health problems and occupational hazards of rural women resulting from their income generating activities. It also examined access and use of health care services. Primary data analyzed revealed reduced access to health care services, poverty, …

Toward Engagement In Climate Training: Findings From Interviews With Agricultural Extension Professionals, David C. Diehl, Nicole L. Sloan, Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, Wendy-Lin Bartels, Daniel R. Dourte, Carrie Furman, Clyde W. Fraisse

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

With scientific consensus regarding the occurrence of climate variability and climate change it is clear that farmers can benefit from science-based adaptation strategies for managing climate-related risk. To this end, cooperative extension professionals must engage in climate training events that are carefully planned and tailored to their specific needs. This study consisted of 50 interviews with extension professionals from four states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) and collected information about the perceptions of climate variability and change as well as the preferred approaches for climate-related training in extension. Results include the need for accessible, climate-related training that prepares extension …

Community Leaders' Perspectives On Shale Development In The New Albany Shale, Ryan G. Ceresola, Jessica Crowe

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Shale development, which uses the controversial energy extraction technique of hydraulic fracturing, is on the rise in America, with industries recently investigating the New Albany shale play in southern Illinois and western Kentucky. We ask: what do community leaders in this region think about shale development generally, and how do they come to their decisions? To answer these questions, we interviewed eighteen community leaders, twelve of whom were proponents of shale development. We show proponents speak on shale development as a positive by claiming 1) any jobs are beneficial for the community, 2) shale development is not different from other …

The Impact Of The Farmers' Market Nutrition Program On Participating Florida Farmers: A Research Note, Nicole Owens, Amy Donley

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is a federally funded program designed to increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption among WIC participants. Research to date has examined the effectiveness of this program in reaching that goal. The current study measures the impact this program is having on some farmers that participate in the program. Farmers are an overlooked group that not only must agree to participate for programs like this to be successful but also are often living below the poverty line as are their customers. Using survey data collected by the Florida Department of …

Assessing The Rural-Urban Divide In A Red State, Joe Blankenau, Chuck Parker

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

This paper explores the rural-urban divide, as it exists within Nebraska, which is a state that is largely homogenous, primarily red, with a historically sizable rural population that is in decline in most counties.1 Using survey data of attitudes towards political and economic issues, and self-identified political ideology, two key questions are considered. Has there been change in the rural-urban divide in Nebraska as rural areas lose population? Second, does the rural-urban divide persist when controlling for party identification, age, and income in multivariate analyses? Bivariate results show that the rural-urban divide continues to be an important factor on several …

Art Education In My Backyard: Creative Placemaking On An Urban Farm, Jodi Kushins

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An art educator describes how she used her knowledge and experience of artistic and educational initiatives that forefront collective activity in real world settings to transform her backyard into an urban farm with the help of friends and neighbors. She combines an autoethnographic account of her experiences, including original photographs, with research on conceptual artists, participatory culture, and creative placemaking to position her work as participatory environmental art education. The paper is organized around the major steps one undertakes in planting a garden – siting, amending, seeding, tending, and harvesting - to draw parallels between the processes of maintaining a …

Reproductive Rights In Latin America: A Case Study Of Guatemala And Nicaragua, Katherine W. Bogen

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

A lack of access to contraceptives and legal abortion for women throughout the nations of Nicaragua and Guatemala creates critical health care problems. Moreover, rural and underprivileged women in Guatemala and Nicaragua are facing greater limitations to birth control access, demonstrating a classist aspect in the global struggle for female reproductive rights. Although some efforts have been made over the past half-century to initiate a dialogue on the failure of medical care in these nations to adequately address issues of maternal mortality and reproductive rights, the women's reproductive health movements of Nicaragua and Guatemala have struggled to reach an effective …

‘Capitalism A Nuh’ Wi Frien’. The Formatting Of Farming Into An Asset, From Financial Speculation To International Aid, Luigi Russi, Tomaso Ferrando

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

This paper deciphers the formatting of farming into an asset by tracking the modalities by which financial calculation is enabled across different sites of agency.

The first focus of our analysis are commodity futures markets, which have witnessed a double spike in prices in 2008 and in 2012. In the paper, we look at these hikes as the outcome of endogenous dynamics, caused by the changing makeup of market participants after 2000, which turned futures markets into resources for hedging commodity index-linked derivative products.

We subsequently analyse the increasing reliance on financial actors placed by public development agencies that channel …

Gold Mining And Unequal Exchange In Western Amazonia: A Theoretical Photo Essay, Gordon L. Ulmer

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

I combine fieldwork photography and ethnographic documentation of gold mining in Madre de Dios, Peru, to examine the localized material, social, environmental, and health outcomes of the global gold boom. This 'theoretical photo essay’ examines how local and global forces coalesce around gold mining and influence peoples and environments in Western Amazonia. I use embodiment theory in anthropology, ecological economics, and theories of underdevelopment to understand local consequences of the global gold trade and to elucidate how opulence and the machinations of capital accumulation in economic centers of the world occur at the expense of human lives and environments in …

Geriatrician And Other Physician Disciplines As The Usual Source Of Care For Rural And Urban Older Adults: 2004-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Wei-Chen Lee, Ciro V. Sumaya

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

The purpose of this study is to examine the trend of usual source care (USC) rates and the discipline of choice among rural and urban older adults. Data used in this study were obtained from 2004 to 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The yearly percentages of having a specific discipline as the USC were demonstrated from 2004 to 2010. The association of residence with likelihoods of having any of these three physician categories as USCs was assessed holding other individual characteristics constant. The overall sample size is 24,834, of which 20.0% of older adults resided in rural areas. A similar …

Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study investigates undergraduate students' perceptions of the content, difficulty, and value of the Communication major. Students in majors other than Communication from two universities indicated that the content of the Communication major was valuable and, in some cases, involved difficult tasks. However, the major was perceived as easier than any other compared discipline. The students surveyed demonstrated low to moderate belief in most popular “myths” regarding Communication as an academic field. A number of potential strategies to increase awareness of the value of a degree in communication are provided, which can be adapted for use with existing departmental marketing …

From “Safe Spaces” To “Communicative Spaces”: Semiotic Labor, Authentic Civility And The Basic Communication Course, Hannah Karolak, Craig T. Maier

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Difficult conversations and controversial topics are common in the basic communication classroom, raising difficult challenges for course directors, instructors, and students. In response to this problem, many in higher education promote the development of “safe spaces.” Drawing from Eicher-Catt’s work on civility, this essay suggests shifting the focus from safe spaces to the development and maintenance of what Eicher-Catt calls communicative spaces. The notion of communicative spaces, when extended into the classroom, reorients our understanding of classroom civility and suggests practices for course directors, instructors, and students that affirm the dignity of students by attending not to their emotional needs …

The Legal Minimum Drinking Age: What Good Does It Do?, Andrea Mulock

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Underage drinking is a huge problem in the United States. Rational choice and deterrence theories suggest that the best way to deal with the problem is to create and enforce strict laws against underage drinking. However, are these truly effective mechanisms in this regard? This paper explores these issues by analyzing underage alcohol consumption patterns in three sets of states classified as “lax”, “strict” and “typical” in terms of their underage drinking laws using data from the 2012 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). T-tests did not show significant differences between underage alcohol use and binge drinking in …

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 34, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

A Smiling Face Is Half The Meal: The Role Of Cooperation In Sustaining Maine’S Local Food Industry, Ethan Tremblay, Timothy Waring

Maine Policy Review

The U.S. is experiencing a renaissance in local food production, and Maine is among the states leading that resurgence. This renaissance is influenced by many factors, and has both economic and social dimensions. This article examines the role of cooperation in the local food industry across a range of local food organizations. The authors conclude that cooperation plays different yet crucial roles in all local food organizations, and is an important part of the success of the local food industry as whole. The article considers the policy implications of these findings, and suggests that while the prevalence of cooperation is …

Green Exercise And Rural America: Cultural, Ecological, And Ideological Implications For Positive Social Change, Joshua M. Garrin

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

As the global obesity pandemic continues to extend its epidemiological reach, its magnitude continues to transcend demographic boundaries. Increasingly, the extant literature highlights the myriad challenges experienced by socioeconomically disenfranchised populations to combat the insidious biopsychosocial impact of chronic health conditions. However, a counter argument suggests that rural Americans have wide ranging access to the natural environment—an intrinsic resource that offers a broad spectrum of health and wellness opportunities. Beyond its application as a tool for good health practices, green exercise—defined as physical activity in natural settings—can provide an existential platform for the ideals of self-sufficiency, solidarity, and sustainability. A …

Adoption Of Innovation In Small-Scale Forestry: The Case Of Portable-Sawmill-Based Microenterprises, Crystal V. Lupo

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Microenterprise development can be a valuable societal component not only in terms of filling important niche markets, but also by enhancing a society's wellbeing through creating opportunities available to people who are marginalized by the labor force for one reason or another. Forest microenterprises, in particular, can enhance rural community development efforts, as well as forest conservation goals, by empowering local people to successfully manage their resources as well as offer the possibility of income enhancement (Salafsky, Cordes, Leighton, Henderson, Watt, & Cherry, 1997; Lupo, 2012). This paper explores the adoption of portable-sawmill-based forest microenterprises. Key findings include common factors …