John Gaventa further describes how the 1977 flood mobilized citizens toward supplementary research into the inequities connected to land ownership, taxation practices, and other local power dynamics. They requested funding from the ARC for what over time developed into the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, an effort that involved close review of courthouse tax records in …
Following a 1977 flood in central Appalachia that left many people displaced, John Gaventa and others at the Highlander Center organized a study to counter conclusions by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), which failed to consider the role of corporate control and land ownership in land settlement patterns. Here, Gaventa delineates the study’s early days …
On the role of corporate land ownership in rural land settlement patterns Read More »
John Gaventa recaps and differentiates between two related studies concerning land ownership in Appalachia. The first was conducted during the summer of 1971 across several East Tennessee counties. It affected Gaventa’s pursuits over the next 50 years, including publication of his book Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley, and facilitated further …
Participatory action research in practice: who owns Appalachia? Read More »
This snippet of a much longer and more comprehensive interview with John Williams and Neil McBride serves merely as a brief overview and cursory introduction of these two key figures and their role with the East Tennessee Research Corporation (ETRC) in the 1970s and beyond. Recorded June 25th, 2018 by Lark Hayes and Irwin Venick …
John Williams and Neil McBride on their work with ETRC Read More »
