Political Economy & Community Development in Appalachia

Catalog description

Prerequisites: APST 610 and APST 620 , or instructor permission. With a focus on Central and parts of Southern Appalachia, students will gain an historical understanding of how the political economies in these areas have influenced their current conditions. They will analyze the impact of natural resource extraction on community development and specifically how law and policy related to extraction have determined, either advertently or inadvertently, Appalachian economies. Students will study the effects of single-industry economies on the health, educational, social, and cultural institutions in communities. They will identify other factors, local, regional, national, and/or international, that have influenced the region’s political economy. Moreover, students will study grassroots movements and community development efforts that have responded to or are currently responding to the politics that shape the economies and how such movements work to eradicate political disenfranchisement among community members.