Rural Sociology Commons^™

Dalit Catholic Home Shrines In A North Indian Village, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines three Catholic home shrines in a Dalit community in North Indian and argues that it is misleading to think that home shrines and other collections of material objects are somehow static conveyors of meaning. “Meaning” can mean many things or nothing at all, depending upon the terms we are using and the scholarly methods we deploy. The crucial aspect of Dalit Catholic home shrines is that they are literally open to interpretation and reinterpretation, to touching and being touched. Their significance—their meaning—depends not on decoding their structure or symbolic logic, but interacting with them as part of …

The Grace Of God And The Travails Of Contemporary Indian Catholicism, Kerry P. C. San Chirico

Journal of Global Catholicism

This essay discusses the challenges faced by Indian Catholicism, particularly as it seeks to adapt to and in contemporary, post-colonial India through the process or program of what is called inculturation, a self-conscious program of adaptation to Indian religion and culture. Since Indian Catholicism is constituted by so many irreducible persons-in-relation, the article focuses on the life of the Catholic priest, Swami Ishwar Prasad in whose life we may chart something of the inculturation movement and the Catholic tradition as it is found in North India region, in one rather long and rich lifetime connecting two centuries. The article seeks …

In Continuity With The Past: Indigenous Environmentalism And Indian Christian Visions Of Flora, James Ponniah

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article considers whether Indian Christianity can be said to have a distinctive ecological vision. The first two parts of the article examine Christian environmentalism in two native forms of Indian Christianity: Tamil Christianity and Tribal Christianity. Continuing with the theme of conformity to the local culture—though of the elite—the third part of the article investigates how Christian Ashrams function as dynamic centers for ecological praxis. The last part of the article considers how contemporary Indian Christian communities can respond to the ecological challenges confronting them.

Globalization And Its Effects On Agriculture And Agribusiness In The Mississippi Delta: A Historical Overview And Prospects For The Future, Paulette Ann Meikle

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This article examines processes of globalization and local development particularly how agribusiness, in alliance with the federal government, has shaped recent economic, demographic, and social changes in the Mississippi Delta region. The author examines how globalization shapes conditions in the flatland Mississippi Delta and argues that globalization creates conditions at the local level that suppress economic opportunities for many residents. The final section identifies the implications for public policy formulation and development practice on both the global and local levels.The author offers recommendations on how the region can “take the high road” to ease persistent poverty.

Criminal Futures On The Ruralside: A Preliminary Examination Of Antisocial Behaviors Of Rural And Urban Students, Raymond Biggar Jr., Jing Chen, Craig J. Forsyth

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Based on data from the 2012 Communities that Care Youth Survey (CCYS), the authors compare the delinquency of rural and urban adolescents across eight behaviors that comprise the surveys antisocial behavior profile. The authors created a two category urban/rural variable.

Rural/Urban Differences In Inmate Perceptions Of The Punitiveness Of Prison: Does Having Children Make Prison More Punitive, Kecia R. Johnson, David C. May

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Many researchers have argued that an inmate’s relationship with their family is an important determinant of their behavior while incarcerated and their success in the community upon release from prison. Nevertheless, no research of which we are aware examines the impact of an inmate’s parental involvement on their perception of the punitiveness of prison while incarcerated or whether this impact varies between prisoners raised in rural or urban areas. The current study used exchange rates from more than 1200 incarcerated prisoners to examine this relationship. Our findings suggest that whether an inmate has a child has almost no impact on …

Perceptions Of Risk And Reward Of Rapid Energy Exploration In Rural Kansas: Are Older Adults Different?, Rosemary Wright, Richard D. Muma, Teresa S. Radebaugh

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Rural south-central Kansas recently experienced a rapid expansion and decline of oil and gas exploration by large energy companies using high volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. This resulted in dramatic changes in the daily lives of residents of this area, many of whom are age 65 and older. To date, there has been little research examining similar effects on older adults. Our qualitative study used focus groups to explore age differences in perceptions of reward and risk associated with exploration activity in one community. We found that although all participants welcomed positive economic effects, older adults compared with other …

Online And Offline Bullying Perpetration In A Rural Development Context: The Impact By Social Media Use, Alexander T. Vazsonyi, Gabriela Ksinan Jiskrova, Erin Kelley, Albert Ksinan

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Do Rural School Resource Officers Contribute To Net-Widening? Evidence From A Southern State, David C. May, Raymond Barranco, Rick Ruddell, Angela Robertson

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

There has been considerable recent scholarly commentary about the existence of a school-to-prison pipeline. In this research, several authors have questioned whether the presence of school resource officers (SROs) has increased the proportion of students being referred to juvenile justice systems for status or minor offenses. Research to date, however, has not established a clear relationship between the presence of SROs and these referrals. In this study, we examine the relationship between referrals made in urban and rural schools to determine whether rural students are disadvantaged by net widening when compared with their urban counterparts. To carry out this study …

Guest Editor's Notes, Dan Phillips

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Judging The Effectiveness Of Anti-Poaching Hotlines, Egan Kyle Green

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

All state wildlife law enforcement agencies in the United States have toll-free phone numbers that allow citizens to report wildlife crimes that they witness. The success of these lines in leading to the apprehension of wildlife criminals is reliant on the knowledge of the caller. This is particularly problematic for wildlife violations due to the varying conditions that dictate whether the reported act is a crime. These conditions include factors such as time of year, time of day, type of gear used, as well as others. Therefore, in order for anti-poaching hotlines to be an effective means of reducing wildlife …

Owens, Nellie, 1912-2007 (Sc 3051), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scan (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3051. W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) sewing notebook of Nellie Owens, Louisville, Kentucky, containing fabric swatches and sewing samples.

A Comparative Study Of Headedness In Ruhaya Compounds, Emmanuel Ilonga Dr

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper presents endocentric and exocentric compounds in Ruhaya, with specific focus on their lexical properties, position of headwords, semantic relation between headwords and modifiers, and the semantic classification of noun-noun compounds. It offers a comparison between Ruhaya and other Bantu languages on these aspects, and extends the comparison to Indo-European languages (English, Dutch and French). It was found that Ruhaya has left-headed compounds, and words from the same and different lexical categories can combine to make up compound words. In the case of headed compounds, there is a kind of semantic relations through which modifiers slightly change the meaning …

Broadband And Mobile Internet Services In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, L. J. Mcelravy

Nebraska Rural Poll

Most rural Nebraskans use their cell phone to access the Internet. Certain groups are more likely than others to use mobile/cellular Internet service: rural Nebraskans with the highest household incomes, who are younger, married, with higher education levels and with management or professional occupations.

Overall, most rural Nebraskans using mobile/cellular Internet service are satisfied with their service. Furthermore, most rural Nebraskans are satisfied with the reliability, speed, customer service, and coverage of their mobile Internet service. However, most rural Nebraskans using mobile Internet service are dissatisfied with the price of their service.

Certain groups have issues with various aspects of …

[Review Of] Saving Seeds, Preserving Taste: Heirloom Seed Savers In Appalachia, Julene L. Jones

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Wellbeing Among Rural Grandfamilies In Two Multigenerational Household Structures, Melissa A. Barnett, Loriena Yancura, Joe Wilmoth, Yoshie Sano

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Multigenerational households are an understudied type of grandfamily. In rural communities, these households are likely to be economically disadvantaged and underserved. Drawing from a subset (N = 63) of low-income multigenerational households in a multistate research study, Rural Families Speak About Health, the present study compares demographic characteristics, parent and child wellbeing, and family processes in two types of multigenerational household structures: one-parent/grandparent families and two-parent/grandparent families. Research on these multigenerational household configurations is rare despite the potential for different needs, strengths, and services. Results indicate no differences in economic hardship or disadvantage by household type. Children in …

Household Shocks And Transition Into Marriage: Evidence From Rural Ethiopia, Boyd K. Tembo

Theses and Dissertations

The study tests the primary hypothesis that household shocks do not have a positive and significant correlation with a child's transition into early marriage. It finds that there is no statistically significant correlation between parental death and transition into marriage for both genders of subjects in the study.

Are They Matching Up? An Analysis Of Study Abroad Outcomes And The Vocational Needs Of A Southern Appalachian Area, Brynn A. Smith

Capstone Collection

With an increased amount of people seeking higher education, it has become vital to connect education to career in American colleges and universities. To better understand the value of education abroad, international educators must make this connection clear. This research examines student outcomes from Maryville College’s (MC) study abroad programs and compares them with human resource needs, with special attention given to the local job market in the surrounding area. A case study approach was used to gather data from MC study abroad returnees, local HR professionals, and national sources to understand where student outcomes are or are not lining …

Monhegan: A Prescription For Resilience, Kenneth Paul Kiel Gross

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Monhegan, like many island communities, is threatened by the loss of population as its young adults migrate to the mainland. The purpose of this study is to develop a resilient population on Monhegan Island.

Knowing the problem is easy, as is asking the obvious question, “How do we get people to move to this area?” This is a problem that confronts not only Monhegan, but also other Maine islands and even Maine itself.

Several factors make Monhegan’s future uncertain. The first is the gradual shift from commercial fishing, the mainstay of its economy, as it becomes more reliant on tourism …

Women And Healthcare In Appalachia: Impeding Circumstance And The Role Of Technology, Ashley Cano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, healthcare access and quality in central and southern Appalachia have trailed the rest of the country. Entrenched poverty and low educational attainment compound healthcare problems. This study examines the healthcare obstacles women encounter in southern and central Appalachia and analyzes how technology use, such as Internet searching and social media affect women’s healthcare decisions. Data were analyzed from four focus groups conducted with women from the region. Results indicate that seeing a physician or not did not influence women’s propensity to search the Internet for health-related information or to seek support through social media sites. Additionally, women reported …

The Masculinized Work Of Energy Development: Unequal Opportunities And Risks For Women In Pennsylvania Shale Gas Boomtown Communities, Erin Mchenry-Sorber, Kai A. Schafft, Ian Burfoot-Rochford, Daniella Hall

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The proliferation of unconventional shale gas development has revived scholarly interest in the impacts of rapid industrial development on communities, schools, policies and politics, public health, the environment, and economic growth. However, with few exceptions, close examinations of the gendered structure of opportunity within areas experiencing rapid shale gas development have largely been absent from this literature. This article uses key informant interview data from low income men and women, as well as from social service providers within Pennsylvania communities heavily affected by shale gas development. In contrast to assertions that shale gas development will yield broad-based economic development impacts …

Appalachia, Usa: An Empirical Note And Agenda For Future Research, Russell Weaver

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Drawing regional bright-lines to separate one “kind” of space from another is often complex and nebulous, if not impossible, in social science research. These circumstances generate two countervailing tendencies: they (1) promote multiple conceptualizations of a given ideational region; and (2) increase demand for a standardized operational definition of that region with which to facilitate intertemporal and interdisciplinary empirical research. These two tendencies animate much of the discourse on “Appalachian” geographies in America. While comparatively theoretically-oriented work emphasizes the unbounded, socially constructed nature of Appalachia, empirical research must often represent the region as a bounded spatial unit. The operational definition …

Self-Reported Familiarity Of Hydraulic Fracturing And Support For Natural Gas Drilling: Substantive And Methodological Considerations, Fern K. Willits, Gene L. Theodori, A. E. Luloff

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The widespread use of hydraulic fracturing in the natural gas industry in the United States has led to criticism by environmentalists and the public who see the process as threatening both the quality and quantity of local water supplies. However, there has been little research directed to assessing the extent to which citizens believe they are familiar with the process of hydraulic fracturing and little analysis dealing with the correlates of subjects’ sociodemographic characteristics with such familiarity or its effects on individual’s support or opposition to natural gas drilling. The current note examines these issues using data from a 2012 …

Recreational Needs And Practices Of Youth Living In Rural Areas In Quebec: Views And Concerns Of Stakeholders And Parents, Romain Roult, Denis Auger, Chantal Royer, Jean-Marc Adjizian

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Public recreation in rural areas is often a key factor in fighting the devitalization of small municipalities. Additionally, recreational activities support youth in their identity and social development, for instance through generated social interactions. Based on a qualitative case study conducted in Quebec, this research seeks to identify the needs and sought-after forms of recreational activities for youth living in rural areas according to local stakeholders and parents, and, simultaneously, to estimate land management, governance, and social actions that will improve the recreational offer already in place. Results show that the interviewed stakeholders are aware of the merits of leisure …

Restructuring Of The Financial Industry And Implications For Sources Of Start-Up Capital For New Businesses In Nonmetropolitan Counties, F. Carson Mencken, Charles M. Tolbert

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Rural Civic Action Project Poster, Heartland Center For Leadership Development

Heartland Center for Leadership Development Materials

The final project for the Rural Civic Action Project is to create a poster that includes the Community Capital Mapping activity (CCMA; Keith & Kinsey, 2013). The Community Capital Maps provide an opportunity to evaluate the impact of the projects from the participants’ perspective. Fellows should include one map on their poster: the center of the map should be “Engaging in the Rural Civic Action Program. Also included on the poster is a narrative describing the map.

Understanding The Failure Of China’S Specialized Cooperatives In China, Zhanping Hu, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

At first blush, contemporary China seems ripe for the rapid development of agricultural cooperatives. After all, cooperatives have not only enjoyed a long history in China, but the country’s recent experience with agricultural communes should make it more amenable to the reestablishment of joint production and spontaneous bottom-up cooperation. Agricultural cooperatives in China date to the 1930s, as Rural Reconstruction Movement advocates promoted cooperatives as a “third road” between capitalism and socialism. Although Mao’s regime disbanded most bottom-up cooperatives, rural cooperatives began to reemerge in rural China by the end of the 20th century, particularly after 1998, when farmer cooperatives …

Los Médicos No Creen En La Brujería: El Choque Entre La Psicologia Occidental, El Catolicismo Y Las Creencias Ancestrales En La Salud Mental Boliviana, Olivia Legan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Este ensayo explora el concepto de salud mental en Bolivia y discute cómo las creencias ancestrales y el catolicismo determinan el entendimiento boliviano sobre la salud. También se toma en cuenta el rol de la salud mental en la migración interna y la tensión entre el estilo de vida rural y urbano. En base a mis experiencias en un centro de terapia alternativa y un hospital psiquiátrico católico, voy a comunicar algunas maneras en que se recibe e implementa la psicología occidental en la sociedad boliviana.

This paper explores mental health in Bolivia and discusses how both ancestral beliefs and …

Escaping The Concrete Jungle: An Exploration Of Ecotourism Development In Dzongu, North Sikkim, Katrina Kniss

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The state of Sikkim in northeastern India is a place imbued with a sense of mystery. It is partially this spirit, as well as its pristine Himalayan landscapes and vibrant cultural diversity, that has established Sikkim as a major tourist destination in the region. In the Northern district of the state, the Dzongu reserve is inhabited by the indigenous Lepcha group, who hold the status of “Most Primitive Tribe”. Over the past decade, however, this primitive tribe has shown their strength in staging large-scale protests and hunger strikes in a movement against mega-hydropower development along the Teesta River. Employing their …

Demokrasi Dalam Pemilihan Kepala Desa? Studi Kasus Desa Dengan Tipologi Tradisional, Transisional, Dan Modern Di Provinsi Jawa Barat Tahun 2008-2013, Neneng Yani Yuningsih, Valina Singka Subekti

Jurnal Politik

This research was motivated by variety of understandings of political activities in villages. The article argues that village is considered as the embrio for the formation of political society and government in Indonesia, which is also the basis for this democratic nation. This consideration can be seen from the activities of village’s headman elections. Headman election is a political activity that shows how democratic process can take place in village level. Therefore, headman elections cannot be eparated from the dynamic development of the political situation in the village. It is not merely a power struggle within the leadership’s succession in …