Environmental Gentrification and Development in a Rural Appalachian Community

239 Pages·2016·5.78 MB·English

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Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
12-2015
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Rhiannon A. Leebrick
University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss
Part of the Place and Environment Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Rural Sociology
Commons, Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons, Tourism Commons, and the Work, Economy and
Organizations Commons
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Leebrick, Rhiannon A., "Environmental Gentrification and Development in a Rural Appalachian Community:
Blending Critical Theory and Ethnography. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2015.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/3591
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee
Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized
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[email protected].
To the Graduate Council:
I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Rhiannon A. Leebrick entitled "Environmental
Gentrification and Development in a Rural Appalachian Community: Blending Critical Theory and
Ethnography." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content
and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Sociology.
Harry F. Dahms, Major Professor
We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance:
Sherry Cable, Paul K. Gellert, Derek Alderman, F. Scott Frey
Accepted for the Council:
Carolyn R. Hodges
Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School
(Original signatures are on file with official student records.)
Environmental Gentrification and Development in a Rural
Appalachian Community: Blending Critical Theory and Ethnography

A Dissertation Presented for the
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Rhiannon A. Leebrick
December 2015
ii

Copyright © 2015 by Rhiannon A. Leebrick
All rights reserved.
iii

“Because the lives and the collective life of particular places carry in them history
and the global issues of the time, family stories and local histories make clear
that these tendencies are part of the very fabric of the varied American cultures,
traceable in American history from its beginnings, shaping who we are and how
we think both of ourselves and of the practice of citizenship. However, these
changes and processes acquired intensity and new force in the twentieth
century, particularly in the decades after 1945. In these years, one among the
many tensions for Americans became on one hand commitment or connection to
place. On the other hand, there is the expectation that to move ahead, to fulfill
one’s destiny, to continue to lay claim to an idealized American Dream, one must
always be willing to move on to claim the opportunities America is believed to
offer.”

Talmage Stanley,
from The Poco Field: An American Story of Place (2012)
iv
Acknowledgements

First and foremost, many, many thanks to my dissertation chair and committee
for their guidance and support during graduate school and this project; Dr.
Dahms for listening as I worked through my hesitations, ideas, and aha moments
and for providing invaluable insights and reassurance; Dr. Cable for inspiring this
project and encouraging me to believe in my work and self, always; Dr. Gellert for
his attention to detail, critical feedback, and overall support; Dr. Alderman for
welcoming me into his classes, encouraging my writing, and pushing me to refine
my argument; Dr. Frey for his broad knowledge of environmental sociology,
expansive reading lists, and willingness to jump in and help.

This project could also not have been possible without the research participants
who took time to meet with me. I am grateful to them for sharing their stories.

There is a long, long list of other mentors who have sparked my curiosity and
inspired this project indirectly, in particular, Drs. Jones, Kurth, and Bohon at UTK,
and Drs. Dunaway and Luke at Virginia Tech, among many other amazing
teachers from other points in my life. I hope to inspire my students like all these
folks have inspired me.

Words are not sufficient to capture the gratitude and love I have for my friends
and peers who have provided much needed conversation, ideas, honesty,
encouragement, and the occasional merriment during this project.

A million thanks to Caleb who has been by my side all through graduate school
and beyond.

Maebel, you are the coolest Jedi I know. Thanks for your patience, unwavering
enthusiasm, and lessons on focusing.
v

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is twofold: first, to explore the relevance of
environmental gentrification, a concept largely applied to urban settings, as a
means to understand social change in rural and small town Appalachia; and
secondly, drawing upon political economy perspectives within environmental
sociology and the tradition of early Frankfurt School critical theory, to
contextualize the process of environmental gentrification within global capitalism.
Conflicts over green economic development, including the maintenance of idyllic
vistas, appear to have arisen among various groups with opposing interests and
perceptions. 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 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. The findings of this study suggest that
affluent newcomers act as developers and use their social capital, networks, and
activist roots to effect community change. Employing the frame of early critical
theory, my goal is to develop a sense of the ways in which localized community
development agendas are restricted by the permeating effects of the logic of
capital and, as a result, linked to the process of globalization. In other words,
although gentrifiers’ narratives suggest that they are creating a sustainable
version of development, study findings suggest that these alternatives are
severely limited given the homogenizing effects of capitalism, on physical space
and on ideology.
vi
Table of Contents

Chapter I Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
Environmental Gentrification ............................................................................ 5
Rural America in the Twentieth Century .......................................................... 9
South Central Appalachia ......................................................................... 10
Dissertation Outline ........................................................................................ 16
Chapter II Environmental Gentrification and the Political Economy of the
Environment ........................................................................................................ 19
Gentrification .................................................................................................. 22
Rural Gentrification ................................................................................... 24
The Production of Place ................................................................................. 29
Uneven Development ............................................................................... 33
Neoliberalism ............................................................................................ 36
Political Economy of the Environment and Environmental Sociology ............ 37
Treadmill of Production ............................................................................ 42
Treadmill of Accumulation and the Metabolic Rift .................................... 47
Frankfurt School Critical Theory ..................................................................... 51
Rethinking Marx ....................................................................................... 61
Habermas ................................................................................................. 64
Critical Theory and Environmental Sociology ................................................ 67
Chapter III Research Methods ............................................................................ 76
Case Site and Ethnography .......................................................................... 77
Critical Theory as Method ............................................................................. 92
Chapter IV Community Change in Cadensview: Situating the Local in
the Global ............................................................................................................ 96
Living The Dream: Newcomers in Cadensview ......................................... 108
Rural Rebound ........................................................................................... 122
Property Value, Rent, and Interpretations of Socio-Economic Class......... 126
Calling it Gentrification ............................................................................... 137
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A Note on Race and Ethnicity ..................................................................... 139
Prelude To Development ............................................................................ 145
Chapter V Community Development: Agendas And Projects ........................... 150
CBO and Investment Leaders Describe Their Sustainability Goals ............. 151
Investment Partnerships in Cadensview ...................................................... 156
Community-building Organizations .............................................................. 165
Creating a Brand and Tourism ..................................................................... 169
Agriculture and Eco-Education ..................................................................... 176
Competing Narratives Over Development in Cadensview ........................... 186
Chapter VI Concluding Remarks ....................................................................... 200
References ........................................................................................................ 207
Appendix ........................................................................................................... 225
Vita .................................................................................................................... 227
viii
List of Tables

Table 1. Cadensview Population Growth, 1970-2010 ......................................... 78
Table 2. Community-building Organizations in Cadensview, 1980-2010 .......... 170