Shaunna L. Scott

Dead work: The construction and reconstruction of the Harlan Miners Memorial

In 1986, the Harlan County Jaycees club erected a monument to honor over 1300 local coal miners who had lost their lives on the job. In 1991, the Harlan County Fiscal Court demolished the original memorial and erected a new one on the same site. The following ethnographic account, based upon nine months of participant-observation research and interviews conducted with memorial sponsors, describes the events surrounding the construction and reconstruction of this memorial. The Harlan Miners Memorial, it is argued here, provides insight into the interplay between conflict and consensus which undergirds commemoration, generally. The author concludes that neither the Durkheimian perspective, which emphasizes social consensus and the collective conscience, nor the Marxian perspective, which highlights class conflict and ideological domination, adequately addresses the complex political dynamics and repercussions of this memorial.

The Long-Term Effects of a Coal Waste Disaster on Social Trust in Appalachian Kentucky

In October 2000, a coal impoundment structure emptied more than 300 million gallons of toxic coal waste into the streams of Martin County, Kentucky. This study compares surveys conducted in the months following the disaster with surveys administered 10 years later to determine the long-term impacts of the disaster on trust in government, corporations, and experts. We find that the social trust levels in Martin County partially recovered in the 10 years since the impoundment rupture. This suggests that technological disasters, including those that result in toxic contamination, do not always permanently damage the social fabric of the communities that experience them. However, some factors suggest that Martin County’s recovery in trust may be unwarranted, which, in turn, raises concerns about this community’s susceptibility to environmental hazards and possible future disasters.

Discovering what the people knew The 1979 Appalachian Land Ownership Study

The Appalachian Land Ownership Study is recognized as a pioneering effort in the interdisciplinary field of participatory action research. This article analyzes this community-based study of land ownership and taxation in Appalachia to determine what lessons it offers a new generation of action researchers. It demonstrates both the practical difficulties in community-based research as well as the challenges to legitimation that may be launched from policy and social science audiences who embrace positivistic research methodologies and epistemologies. The article concludes with the lessons that the land study offers a new generation of researchers who wish to conduct socially relevant, participatory research. Despite the obstacles and disappointments associated with the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, this article concludes that it had long-lasting political, social, personal and scholarly impacts.

Major Impacts and Challenges facing Kentucky's Streams and Wetlands: A Summary of Agency, Other Expert, and Stakeholder Views

Abstract To protect our nations water resources, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have declared a goal of “no net loss” of our nations water and wetland resources to be a national priority for the past 20 years. To meet this objective, the EPA has encouraged states to develop state wetland conservation plans and incorporate stakeholders into the development of those plans. Recently, the Kentucky Division of Water initiated a streams and wetlands conservation planning process. As part of the process, we conducted surveys and interviews of Kentucky stakeholders in stream and wetlands issues. Results of the surveys emphasized three impacts of concern: sewer overflows and straight pipes, coal and energy development, and residential growth. Stakeholders had wide areas of agreement, although their perspectives were not entirely uniform. Perception of the relative importance of some types of impacts was dependent on job position, level of awareness, and watershed region. Kentuckys first phase planning process illustrates the importance of soliciting watershed-based multi-stakeholder input in conservation planning as mandated by the EPA. We conclude by recommending directions for a second phase of planning and a subsequent implementation stage for the streams and wetlands conservation planning process.