Thanks for Visiting: Ecological Gentrification in South Central Appalachia

The focus of the talk will be Rhiannon's paper 'Thanks for Visiting: Ecological Gentrification in South Central Appalachia'. This paper explores environmental gentrification as a means to understand social change in south central Appalachia and draws upon political economy perspectives within environmental sociology and critical theory to contextualize this within global capitalism. Rhiannon has found that conflicts over green economic development, including the maintenance of idyllic vistas and land use, appear to have arisen among various groups with opposing interests and perceptions of place. These conflicts are complex, affected by the rise of gentrification accompanying uneven development and tied to global economic trends. Implicit in seemingly local conflicts over community planning, as new places are selectively layered onto existing places, are issues of environmental privilege, class and racial prejudice, maintenance of ideology, and production of (socio) nature. Examining this layering of place illustrates the intricacies of political participation, governance, and economic development agendas in rural communities where environmental gentrification occurs. Although gentrifiers narratives imply that they are creating a sustainable version of development, her findings suggest that these alternatives are often severely limited by the homogenizing effects of capitalism, on physical space and on ideology.