Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Design Studies

Committee Chair

Cheryl Brown

Committee Co-Chair

Alan Collins

Committee Member

Bradley Wilson

Committee Member

Chris Haddox

Abstract

West Virginia has been plagued with high unemployment rates, high rates of addiction and poverty, and some of the worst health outcomes in the country. Outmigration has been the paradigm for many, but why do some people choose to stay? Numerous scholars have written about outmigration, but there is little information on why people stay. After decades of people leaving, many who remain have made a choice to stay. This choice can be seen as an act of resistance against the problematic discourses surrounding the Appalachian region and the economic disparities found within rural communities. West Virginians are often dependent on the boom and bust cycles of industry, where unjust power dynamics are developed and perpetuated. Those who stay have strong ties to place and a sense of identity connected to the region. Place plays a significant role in connecting identity constructs to social action. Communities can build on their social capital and strong ties to place in forging new paths to staying. As identity is inextricably linked to place, a love of place can be a powerful means to harnessing resistance. These identity constructs can challenge insider/outsider binaries by showing the depth of diversity within communities and people who are committed to place. Building action from placed identities can advance the region as people write their own stories instead of continuing to react against decades of negative discourse. The tide of outmigration is unlikely to end soon. Finding out why people are staying and using that information for development can be a powerful tool for disrupting problematic narratives, and agency for those who stay. Through a series of three essays, in this dissertation I research the power dynamics in West Virginia and how those relationships are perpetuated and/or resisted. I also explore how alternative acts of resistance are used by people who stay and their place-based identity constructs.

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