Holly R. Barcus

PLACE ELASTICITY: EXPLORING A NEW CONCEPTUALIZATION OF MOBILITY AND PLACE ATTACHMENT IN RURAL AMERICA

Abstract. Migration and place attachment are often coupled within the migration decision‐making literature with the underlying assumption that individuals with strong place attachments are less likely to migrate than individuals with weaker ties to place. As communication technologies have improved, however, new forms of place attachment and connections between individuals and places are evolving. We introduce the concept of place elasticity as a new conceptualization of place attachment made possible by innovations in communication and transportation technologies. Place elasticity allows individuals to live in distant locales while maintaining close interaction with a particular place. We explore this concept with questionnaires and interviews from a sample of individuals from rural Appalachian counties in eastern Kentucky. Rural residents of this region have been noted for their strong place attachments and connections to their home county. Based on our questionnaires and interviews from family reunions we propose that place elasticity has three distinct characteristics: portability, strong place bonds, and permanence and that these traits allow individuals to remain connected to home counties and family, thereby allowing migration and settlement in distant locations with minimal loss of connectedness.

The Emergence of New Hispanic Settlement Patterns in Appalachia

Abstract This article evaluates the emerging Hispanic population in Appalachia, which nearly tripled in size to 465,000 between 1980 and 2000. Using 1980, 1990, and 2000 census data, changes in the geographic distribution of Hispanics and in the economic characteristics of counties with growth in Hispanic population are assessed. Results suggest that high-growth counties are clustered in peripheral areas in the northern and southern subregions and are characterized by higher per capita income and greater economic viability than those areas with relatively low Hispanic population growth. *I would like to thank the five anonymous reviewers and the editor, Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, for their insightful and constructive comments on previous versions of this article.

Bridging the Academic–Public Divide in GIS and Cartography: A Framework for Integrating Community Partnerships in the Classroom

In undergraduate geography programs in the United States there is increasing demand for students to be prepared for real-world project management and to possess strong GIS technical skills and cartographic communication skills upon graduation. There is, however, limited time and opportunity within the framework of traditional undergraduate programs to offer this type of hands-on training while simultaneously increasing conceptual and theoretical knowledge and improving technical abilities. This article outlines a framework for integrating community partnerships into real-world GIS learning opportunities for undergraduate students. Our primary objective is to provide an active learning opportunity that mimics a real-world project scenario within the Geography Departments undergraduate GIS curriculum.

The Kazakhs of Western Mongolia: Transnational Migration from 1990-2008

The Kazakhs are the largest minority group in Mongolia, a relatively homogenous country dominated by Khalkh Mongols. Since 1991, Mongolia has transitioned politically and economically and witnessed significant changes in internal and international migration flows. The large-scale movement of ethnic Kazakhs from Western Mongolia to Kazakhstan represents one such emerging international flow. This migration is influenced by economic motivations, historical cultural ties to Kazakhstan, and immigration policies of both countries. This paper assesses the local and national circumstances that shape migration decision-making in Western Mongolia during the transition years and highlights changes in the characteristics and directions of migration flows during this time. We identify three periods of migration with each period characterized by changing economies and national policies in Mongolia and Kazakhstan, as well as changes in communications technologies and extensiveness of social networks among prospective migrants. These periods illustrate how transnational migration flows evolve through time and are affected by national, local, and individual circumstances.

Ethnic Restructuring in Rural America: Migration and the Changing Faces of Rural Communities in the Great Plains

Scholars have long documented widespread aging and depopulation of rural communities in the Great Plains. Paralleling these trends is the emergence, growth, and spatial dispersion of new and longtime non-white populations across the region. The dual processes of population loss in many counties combined with the growth of new, non-white population groups suggest that the ethnic structure of the population is changing. In this article we utilize choropleth maps, Hoover and Simpson indexes, and cluster analysis to assess whether the emergence and growth of ethnic minority groups in the Great Plains between 1970 and 2008 is a localized phenomenon or region-wide shift in the ethnic composition of the population. Results suggest that as depopulation is occurring in many counties of this region, the growth of non-white populations, both immigrant and native born, is changing or restructuring the ethnic composition of the Great Plains.

Choosing to Stay: (Im)Mobility Decisions Amongst Mongolia’s Ethnic Kazakhs

Abstract One of the defining characteristics of globalization is the increased flow of migrants across international borders. Fluctuating migration flows in rural communities of the Global South have the potential to significantly contribute to or undermine the livelihoods of local residents. Households that choose not to migrate, that remain immobile, play a key role in sustaining rural communities. Migration studies in the Global South, however, have largely neglected these households. Utilizing questionnaire and life history interview data collected between 2006 and 2009, we examine immobility amongst the Kazakh ethnic minority population in rural Mongolia. Our findings challenge the dichotomous portrayal of immobile households as either ‘left behind’ or ‘embedded’ within their community, providing evidence that immobility decisions are both fluid and flexible and require more interrogation from scholars. Our findings help broaden the social and cultural context in which immobility studies are conducted and the characterization of immobility amongst non-migrant populations. More broadly, this study contributes to our understanding of the implications to livelihood sustainability in rural communities.

Healthcare Utilization, Deprivation, and Heart-Related Disease in Kentucky

Kentucky is a rural southern state with the third highest heart disease rate and one of the highest poverty rates in the country, a situation that often leads to decreased access to and utilization of healthcare facilities. We assess the relationship between patterns of healthcare facility utilization for heart-related disease and material deprivation for 2002 using data from the Kentucky Discharge Database, and explore the geographic clustering and possible overlaps among material deprivation, heart disease prevalence, healthcare facility utilization, and incidence severity. We find significant clustering of healthcare facility utilization in southeastern Kentucky that corresponds with high levels of socio-economic deprivation and high rates of heart-related disease mortality. The findings suggest the need for increased services and interventions to lower the risk and prevalence of heart disease and increased research to understand better who utilizes healthcare services and their relationships to gaps in service delivery and utilization.

Discovering a sense of well-being through the revival of Islam: profiles of Kazakh imams in Western Mongolia

Throughout Central Asia, the end of communism has been marked by a significant change in the management and influence of local mosques. In many rural areas, small underground mosques operated by informally trained, elderly moldas have been supplanted by newly constructed mosques led by younger, foreign-educated local imams and financed by governmental and private donations from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. From several perspectives, this ‘revival’ of Islam is characterized in a way that implies that increased religiosity and piety is somewhat problematic. In this essay, based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork in Western Mongolia, we argue that such an approach prevents an understanding of how religious changes are enhancing the social and material well-being of certain actors. We explore the utility of the concept of well-being by focusing on the everyday lives of Kazakh imams in Western Mongolia. Approximately 100,000 ethnic Kazakhs live in the Western Mongolian province of Bayan-Ölgii, where they comprise about 80% of the population. Although a significant portion of the population has been migrating to Kazakhstan in the post-socialist period, the Kazakhs who choose to remain in Mongolia have experienced a significant increase in religious freedom. In this context, the new cohort of imams is playing an important mediating role as members of the local population reinterpret and renegotiate their identity as Muslims. In addition to finding spiritual well-being through their knowledge of Islam, these imams are acquiring social status and economic security from their local roles as religious leaders and through their transnational connections with a broader Muslim community.

Facilitating Native Land Reacquisition in the Rural USA through Collaborative Research and Geographic Information Systems

A large proportion of American Indian reservation lands are owned by non-Indian entities. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for visualising land tenure changes, and public participation GIS (PPGIS) is one approach for using spatial technologies to facilitate the identification and reacquisition of reservation lands by tribes. While some tribes have successfully harnessed GIS for land management and for systematically identifying lands for reacquisition, others struggle to implement land management systems such as GIS for these purposes. This paper situates PPGIS in relation to other forms of participatory action research and outlines our use of a PPGIS framework to engage undergraduate geography students in the mapping of land tenure status on ten rural Minnesota Indian reservations as part of a collaborative partnership with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF). A PPGIS framework allowed us to collaboratively define research goals in response to tribal community needs and provided structure for student work with partner reservations to develop and implement tailored mapping and analysis techniques. Two sets of findings are significant. First, the assembly of a standardised set of maps for American Indian reservations in Minnesota provides a tremendous visual and analytical resource for ILTF and individual tribes to pursue land reacquisition within reservation boundaries. Second, from a PPGIS perspective, we found that working with a coordinating or ‘bridging’ organisation provided key benefits by enabling education of both the student–faculty partners and the individual tribes. The PPGIS model empowered both partners by allowing tribes to harness a powerful technology to assist in visualising land-based assets and allowing students to contribute to native land reacquisition efforts through application of their GIS skills. This mapping helps facilitate economic and cultural viability in tribal communities by providing an important visual catalogue of existing land-based assets, in support of future land acquisition and economic development planning.

Negotiating Everyday Islam After Socialism: A Study of the Kazakhs of Bayan-Ulgii, Mongolia

Using ethnographic interviews and participant observation among the Kazakh community of western Mongolia, we examine how everyday Islamic practices have been reinterpreted and reconfigured following the demise of socialism and the influx of external Islamic influences. This essay considers the local, national, and transnational dynamics that have come into play as “traditional” or local forms of Islam associated with the post-socialist spaces, including Mongolia, have encountered “global” forms of Islam from abroad. We argue that Islam in Bayan-Ulgii is integral to community and ethnic identity, but also multifaceted, dynamic and multi-scalar. This study contributes to scholarly discussions about Islam in Central Asia that challenge essentialist portrayals of Islam and create a simplistic dichotomy between “high” and “low” forms of Islam.