The Rural in the American Geographical Imagination Cheryl Morse University of Vermont Geography Department

One and a Half Minute Writes Please write about a rural place you have experienced. Name the place and describe it as if you were explaining it to a Martian.

One and a Half Minute Writes B. Please describe what immediately comes to your mind when I say “Vermonter”. Describe this person: their age, attire, occupation, setting, actions, race, gender, etc. Again, you are writing to a Martian, so be descriptive.

Is the Rural an important subject of geographical study?

Geographical Imagination Our mental maps of places; and the ways we render spaces and places “a lot of geography is in the mind” Doreen Massey What we expect of a place, even before we experience it for ourselves. what we expect of other social groups within specific spaces.

the importance of a “geographical mind”

Discourse How do we develop our Geographical Imaginations? A collection of ideas, beliefs and understandings that inform the way in which we act, and which are expressed in the material, taken-for-granted, everyday world. They are always partial and contested views of the world. (Woods, M. 2005) Lay (everyday) Media Academic Social construct: a social concept or idea (such as race, class, gender, age) that is institutionalized and normalized within a culture to the extent that people behave as if it were a ‘real’ or a pre-social given. (Woods, M. 2005)

Defining the Rural At 3 scales of analysis: Global United States Vermont Iceland photo: Florence Lynds

Common Attempts to Define the Rural Population-Based Definitions Socio-cultural Definitions (descriptive) Defining the Location and What is Done There Social Representation

The Global Rural New Zealand photo: Ben Fleishman

Global Demographic and Economic Trends in Rural Places Bergen, Norway photo: UVM Student Ashley Barnes

The Global ‘North’ Vernazzo, Italy

…and the Global ‘South’ Three Villages, Ghana photo: Justine Jackson

Rural in the United States Lay Discourses: What did you come up with in your writing exercise?

Media Discourses

America’s Favorite Rural Representative: Kenneth! In case you haven’t yet met Kenneth Parcells from NBC’s 30 Rock : Clogging! Here’s what we learn about New Yorkers’ views of the rural when Jack and Liz visit Stone Mountain: http://www.hulu.com/watch/105439/30-rock-rule-of-three#s-p10-n4-sr-i1

Academic Discourses, part 1 Wild Nature – Social Culture continuum (W. Cronon) Geographies of Exclusion – marginalized people are often located in marginal spaces, and aligned with dirt (D. Sibley) Rural norm is coded as male, white, working-class, heterosexual, conservative Bias against rural in the Academy (urban is the assumed norm)

What do we learn about the rural from Rango? http://www.rangomovie.com/

Mr Foxworthy, tell us about Rednecks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7E-isbgwpk&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=MLGxdCwVVULXdGOxoVj82mJftdnaxTQil2

Academic Discourse, part 2 Redneck is code for poor rural whites (Jarosz and Larson) Obsolete Unsophisticated Not quite white Racist ‘lowest’ class / white trash There are hierarchies of whiteness

The Rural and Identity The rural/urban opposition generates not only political and economic conflict, but social identification as well. (Creed and Ching) Our identities are crafted from and developed in opposition to place identities These place markers can travel

Detachment of the Sign from the Place

The Rural in Vermont Who was that “Vermonter” you imagined at the beginning of class?

Bumper stickers of VT

Or are we becoming more urban and more rural at the same time? Vermont County Population, 2010 Two Vermonts: One Rural and One Urban? Or are we becoming more urban and more rural at the same time? GRAND ISLE 6,970 FRANKLIN 47,746 ORLEANS One of every four Vermonters lives in Chittenden County ESSEX 6,306 LAMOILLE 24,575 CHITTENDEN 156,545 CALEDONIA WASHINGTON Chitt. County’s population is 2.5 times larger than the next most populated county, Rutland ADDISON 36,821 ORANGE WINDSOR RUTLAND 61,642 POPULATION 6,000-7,000 24,000-62,000 BENNINGTON 156, 545 loss of pop since 2000 WINDHAM Data: US Census

Rural – Urban Differences in Vermont Population (2009 est) 413,705 (66.5%) 205,055 (33.5%) Per Capita Income (2008) $37,480 $41,139 Earnings per Job (2008) $35,867 $46,043 Poverty Rate (2009 est) 12.0% 10.5% Not completed High School 14.5% 11.5% Completed College 27.0% 34.8% Data: USDA Economic Research Service

Media Discourse on Vermont’s Rural Culture and Landscape 1947: Vermont Life is Born

The Co-Dependence of Rurality and Tourism in Vermont photo and logo: VermontVacation.com

Sabra Field Woody Jackson Phyllis Chase Contemporary Representations of Vermont Landscapes – How Media Reproduces Constructs

Vermont’s Media Discourses Rusty DeWees One of Vermont’s Rural Representatives

Summary ‘Rural’ is a social construct, that like race and gender, spatializes social, political, and economic differences There are many ‘rurals’ The ‘rural’ plays a powerful role in the construction of geographical imaginations, and in the formation of identities