Removing Mountains: Extracting Nature and Identity in the Appalachian Coalfields

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An ethnography of coal country in southern West Virginia.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

A coal mining technique practiced in southern West Virginia known as mountaintop removal is drastically altering the terrain of the Appalachian Mountains. Peaks are flattened and valleys are filled as the coal industry levels thousands of acres of forest to access the coal, in the process turning the forest into scrubby shrublands and poisoning the water. This is dangerous and environmentally devastating work, but as Rebecca R. Scott argues in Removing Mountains, the issues at play are vastly complicated.

Author Biography

Rebecca R. Scott is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Missouri.

Table of Contents

ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Logic of Extraction1. Hillbillies and Coal Miners: Representations of a National Sacrifice Zone2. Men Moving Mountains: Coal Mining Masculinities and Mountaintop Removal3. The Gendered Politics of Pro-Mountaintop Removal Discourse4. ATVs in Action: Transgression, Property Rights, and Tourism on the Hatfield-McCoy Trail5. Coal Heritage/Coal History: Appalachia, America, and Mountaintop Removal6. Traces of History: "White" People, Black CoalConclusion: Coal FactsAppendix: Guide to ParticipantsNotesBibliographyIndex

Review

"Rebecca R. Scott takes us into the coalfields, mining the cultural poetics that give rise to conflicts over the meaning and significance of this disturbing technology. Her careful excavations reveal the roles that gender, race, and class play in shaping people's sense of belonging both in their local environments and in the larger modern world. These are deep—and sometimes deeply contradictory—cultural processes that are all but invisible to those content to stay on the surface. Scott strips away the easy answers and finds hard questions underneath." —Matt Wray, Temple University

Long Description

A coal mining technique practiced in southern West Virginia known as mountaintop removal is drastically altering the terrain of the Appalachian Mountains. Peaks are flattened and valleys are filled as the coal industry levels thousands of acres of forest to access the coal, in the process turning the forest into scrubby shrublands and poisoning the water. This is dangerous and environmentally devastating work, but as Rebecca R. Scott shows in Removing Mountains , the issues at play are vastly complicated. In this rich ethnography of life in Appalachia, Scott examines mountaintop removal in light of controversy and protests from environmental groups calling for its abolishment. But Removing Mountains takes the conversation in a new direction, telling the stories of the businesspeople, miners, and families who believe they depend on the industry to survive. Scott reveals these southern Appalachian coalfields as a meaningful landscape where everyday practices and representations help shape a community's relationship to the environment. Removing Mountains demonstrates that the paradox that faces this community-forced to destroy their land to make a wage-raises important questions related not only to the environment but also to American national identity, place, and white working-class masculinity.

Review Quote

"Rebecca R. Scott takes us into the coalfields, mining the cultural poetics that give rise to conflicts over the meaning and significance of this disturbing technology. Her careful excavations reveal the roles that gender, race, and class play in shaping people's sense of belonging both in their local environments and in the larger modern world. These are deep--and sometimes deeply contradictory--cultural processes that are all but invisible to those content to stay on the surface. Scott strips away the easy answers and finds hard questions underneath." --Matt Wray, Temple University

Details ISBN0816666008 Author Rebecca R. Scott Short Title REMOVING MOUNTAINS Publisher University of Minnesota Press Language English ISBN-10 0816666008 ISBN-13 9780816666003 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2010 Imprint University of Minnesota Press Subtitle Extracting Nature and Identity in the Appalachian Coalfields Country of Publication United States DEWEY 304.2 Illustrations 22 b&w illustrations Publication Date 2010-08-04 Place of Publication Minnesota Series A Quadrant Book UK Release Date 2010-08-04 NZ Release Date 2010-08-04 US Release Date 2010-08-04 Pages 296 Alternative 9780816665990 Audience General AU Release Date 2010-10-11 We've got this

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