Endangered Spaces, Enduring Places

Rural America as a place and a way of life is undergoing major transformation. The farm crisis and the decline of manufacturing dealt a double blow in the 1980s to rural communities, which continue to lose farms, factories, and young people. Rural lands are increasingly being sought as places for vacation homes, state prisons, and waste dumps. Rural people are ambivalent about new residents and activities and unsure of their own rural identity. Old assumptions about rural life are now open to question.Based on years of field observations and hundreds of interviews in fifteen rural counties in upstate New York, Fitchen’s book explores these changes. It describes the financial stress on dairy farmers and their efforts to hold onto their farms. It records the disbelief and difficult adjustment of rural factory workers and communities as local plants shut down. The author chronicles the struggles of communities plagued by toxic chemicals in their drinking water and of young families slipping further into poverty. She reports on communities campaigning to "win” a state prison and others protesting a proposed radioactive waste dump.The book illustrates the persistence of rural ingenuity and determination but argues that a well-informed federal and state commitment is also necessary. With appropriate policies and programs, most rural communities could adapt creatively to the changes, integrate around a new rural identity, and survive into the twenty-first century as enduring social settings for their residents.

Based on years of field observations and hundreds of interviews in fifteen rural counties in upstate New York, Fitchen’s book explores the changes in economy, new residents and activities, and assumptions about rural life. It describes the financial stress on dairy farmers and their efforts to hold onto their farms. It records the disbelief and difficult adjustment of rural factory workers and communities as local plants shut down. The author chronicles the struggles of communities plagued by toxic chemicals in their drinking water and of young families slipping further into poverty. She reports on communities campaigning to “win” a state prison and others protesting a proposed radioactive waste dump.The book illustrates the persistence of rural ingenuity and determination but argues that a well-informed federal and state commitment is also necessary. With appropriate policies and programs, most rural communities could adapt creatively to the changes, integrate around a new rural identity, and survive into the twenty-first century as enduring social settings for their residents.

Library Journal

The farm crisis of the 1980s was a period of major social, economic, and demographic changes that resulted in serious disruptions in the lives of rural residents. Fitchen, author of Poverty in Rural America ( LJ 5/15/81), studied the causes and consequences of these changes in five upstate New York counties. Through personal observation, interviews, and primary and secondary sources, she presents an eye-opening look at the effects of change on farm and nonfarm families. She also examines how jobs, housing, water quality, waste disposal, outside developers, the building of prisons, and local and state governments have been affected. Fitchen gives county residents high marks for their willingness to accept change and the determination to work together for community enhancement and survival. Recommended for rural sociology collections.-- Irwin Weintraub, Rutgers Univ. Libs., Piscataway, N.J.

Janet M. Fitchen is professor of anthropology at Ithaca College.