Journal of Rural and Community Development
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A Spatial Analysis of Poverty and Income Inequality in the Appalachian Region
Get PDFThe Appalachian Region has neared parity with the national average in terms of poverty rate but Appalachian residents are still poorer than the non-Appalachian residents. The relationship between poverty and income inequality has continued to be region specific and understanding the relationship is important to evaluate how a development strategy would benefit the region. Cross sectional county level data from 1990 and 2000 are used to examine the relationship between poverty and income inequality in the region. Since spatial models fail to capture the spatial dependence of the variables across the region, a spatial regression approach is used in the study. The empirical results indicated an inverse relationship between poverty and income inequality in the Appalachian region.
Keywords: Poverty rate, Income inequality, Gini coefficient, Spatial Durbin Mode
Crowding, Public Image, and Bureaucracy: Issues in the Montana Outfitting Industry
Get PDFOutfitters provide guiding services to individuals for their hunting and fishing experiences. Little is known about the individuals employed in this industry and the issues they must contend with. This research took a qualitative approach to data collection and identified issues in the Montana outfitting industry. Data were obtained from a statewide mail survey of licensed outfitters. Analysis revealed four major issues affecting the outfitting industry in Montana. These issues included negative public perceptions of outfitters, strained relations with resident sportsmen, overregulation of the outfitting industry, and problems associated with too many outfitters working in the state.
Keywords: fishing, guiding, hunting, Montana, natural resources, outdoor recreation, outfitter
Information Communication Technologies and New Indigenous Mobilities? Insights from Remote Northern Territory Communities
Get PDFLike most of the jurisdictions highlighted in this edition, the Northern Territory of Australia has a large Indigenous population who live in small communities isolated from major service centres and urban areas. A digital divide has long existed for residents there but with the rollout of the Internet enabled "Next G" mobile phone network from 2006, along with other technology infrastructure upgrades, residents are going through a rapid 'catch up' in personal technology ownership and use. The new network allows for both reliable communications with the outside world as well as broadband access to the Internet. Studies elsewhere highlight potential for these gateways into the global world to bring about changed aspirations and behaviours in relation to life choices for education, employment and where to live, particularly amongst young people. In this study we explore the early outcomes in relation to these themes from the uptake and use of information communication technologies by residents of three remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory of Australia. The results suggest that technology, particularly the mobile phone, is already changing people's lives, bringing with it opportunities and possibly negative consequences. The research demonstrates the value of observing and commentating on the process of technology adoption as a lens for re-considering how we might perceive Indigenous disadvantage and its turnaround.
Keywords: Information communication technologies, Indigenous migration, Indigenous communities, Northern Territory, Indigenous demograph
Policy's Role in Socioagricultural Transition: A Community Study in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia
Get PDFIn Atlantic Canada, as in rural areas around the world, many citizens are engaged in ways to adapt innovative local level solutions to the challenges posed by globalized industrial agriculture. To prevent the further unraveling of community fabric and to promote rural resilience, there is a shift in some Atlantic Canadian communities towards what Thomas Lyson terms civic agriculture (2004). Using civic agriculture as a conceptual framework, this in-depth community case study found there is a strong community of Tatamagouche farmers who tend to operate on a small, labour-intensive scale, and who value direct links with consumers. This paper investigates civic agriculture initiatives using the narrative of past socio-agricultural transition to understand present-day challenges and opportunities in realizing a locally organized system of food production and distribution.
Specific policy recommendations based on this study's findings include: the integration of local mentorship and experiential learning into agricultural education; strategic planning by the province for domestic consumption increases through existing buy-local campaigns and consumer education programmes; a review of regulatory standards to accommodate small-scale and diversified family farms; and start-up aid for community-scale agricultural cooperatives. Additionally, this paper calls for a broader shift in the philosophies that shape current policy choices and recommends reframing the mandate of governmental departments like Health and Environment to address small-scale community-based agriculture, and advocating for the political recognition of the non-commodity benefits of agriculture.
Keywords: civic agriculture, agricultural education, family farms, agricultural cooperative
Cultural Continuity and Communities and Well-being
Get PDFThis paper describes a household survey of Inuit in northern Alaska and how the survey data were used to better understand the relative importance of jobs, wild food harvesting, and social ties for life satisfaction. It emphasizes the importance of non-material measures for life satisfaction. It builds on other research showing the importance of harvesting wild food and the persistence of a mixed economy—one that combines cash income and wild food harvests. An empirical model estimates the relationship between people's choices to work, and/or hunt and fish, and individual satisfaction with life. The model includes economic and non-economic measures of well-being as well as community characteristics and shows that what matters most for satisfaction are family ties, social support and opportunities to do things with other people. Jobs, income, housing, and modern amenities—are less important among arctic Inuit. This research addresses the purpose for the original survey project—to give a more realistic picture of life in the Arctic by showing why people who live in remote, isolated, communities, with low incomes, and substandard housing are very satisfied with their lives. It also contributes to public policy in remote regions and efforts to understand how people are adapting in a rapidly changing environment.
Keywords: Alaska Natives, subsistence, well-bein
Campus in the Country: Community College Involvement in Rural Community Development
Get PDFThis study was an investigation into college involvement in rural community development through an examination of three cases in eastern, western and northern Canada where this work was reported to be going well. The cases in this study were in contexts of resource industries in transition, usually related to trends in economic globalization. The communities were also impacted by their distance from urban economic and political centres. As community needs were identified, it was apparent that economic and social challenges were inter-related, and that available opportunities required specialized workforce training or retraining, as well as supports for business development. The inquiry revolved around what colleges do, that is, what kinds of approaches and projects were undertaken, how this work was supported or constrained, how college staff were recruited and trained for this work, and how well it was being done, or how success was defined and evaluated. Although community development activities were not well supported by public policy and programs, the colleges were involved in a wide range of development approaches, some embedded into regular college operations, and others specifically organized for particular purposes. Findings from this study have relevance for policy and program development for colleges as they engage with rural communities, for communities as they seek partners to help address rural challenges, and for federal and provincial government departments and agencies with responsibility for community development, post-secondary education and related fields.
Keywords: community colleges, community development, capita
Strategic Choices in Developing a Geospatial Web 2.0 Application for Rural Economic Development
Get PDFThe ways in which we use the Internet have changed in recent years. Compared to consuming online content passively, users are more frequently adding their own content, often with a place-based aspect to it. This volunteered geographic information can represent local perspective in a rich way, and can be quickly shared with others. This case study presents the development of an online mapping application built using newly available web development tools. This application was used as part of a rural economic development initiative in the region of Acton, Quebec. The mapping application, GéoActon, provided a way for local business owners to add information on their business to a map that was embedded in an economic development website. We describe three strategic choices made in the development of GéoActon that reflect the organizational constraints often found within rural areas: minimizing development costs, user verification of contributed information, and strengthening linkages with partners. We anticipate that these choices can provide insights into the future development of Geoweb applications in rural areas.
Keywords: Geoweb, volunteered geographic information, participation, information technolog
Observations on Rural Policy And Applied Research: Brandon University's Rural Development Institute
Get PDFDecolonialisation in the Arctic? Nature Practices and Land Rights in Sub-arctic Norway
No full textDrawing on current changes in nature practices in the County of Finnmark in Northern Norway we reflect upon the ways in which indigenous and non-indigenous locals, in a period of transition, engage with and relate to their environment in a place which is often described by outsiders as remote. Nature and nature activities here remain central to peoples' identity, their belonging and heritage. Nature is regularly cited as the reason for staying when so many people move away.
Nature practices both unite and separate indigenous and non-indigenous locals. The products procured are kept, displayed, and circulated, as part of performances of identity and community. These nature products are invested with morale that protects their circulation from other economic spheres. As we will show, the establishment of the Finnmark property in 2005, cause changes in the relations between locals, land and natural resources. As part of the returning of the Finnmark commons to the people of Finnmark, user rights are to be claimed, documented and formalised. At the same time, the changes of legal structure have implied an opening up of the Finnmark Estate not only to other Norwegians, but also to new groups of tourists that are attracted by wilderness and the prospect of engaging in the same kinds of nature practices enjoyed by the population of Finnmark.
In this article, different uses of nature, for identity and community, for health, as well as for the appreciation of history, memory, and heritage are seen in perspective of new nature-tourism opportunities. Nature tourism is both increasingly present as an opportunity to stay where one is, and live off the same resources in new ways. It is however also something that people are unable to avoid, as the Finnmark property opens the commons and its resources for all