Geographies of Land Ownership Change in the Rural United States: Challenges, Methods, and Possibilities

Abstract

Both academic and popular sources have recently pointed to important changes in rural land ownership across the United States: from consolidation and financialization to racialized dispossession. Although land and land ownership are foundational themes in geography, and a wide range of disciplinary attention focuses on land ownership, much of the basic empirical information about U.S. land ownership remains obscured—due in large part to difficulty accessing and analyzing property data. This article draws on our experiences with a participatory action research project called the Appalachian Land Study to outline some of the challenges of studying the geographies of land ownership in the United States as well as some possibilities for new directions. We briefly situate this kind of research in the context of the overlapping political, economic, and ecological crises of the present, and argue that geographical studies of land ownership in the rural United States have many important applications across the discipline and beyond.

最近, 学术界和公众都指出了美国农村土地所有权的重要变化：从整合和金融化转变到种族化剥夺。土地和土地所有权是地理学的基本主题, 地理学对土地所有权进行了广泛的研究。但是, 由于很难获取和分析房地产数据, 美国土地所有权的经验知识在很大程度上仍然模糊不清。基于我们开展的参与式“阿巴拉契亚土地研究”项目, 我们概述了地理学在研究美国土地所有权中的一些挑战以及新的研究方向。我们简要地将这类研究置于当前在政治、经济和生态上交叉存在的危机。认为, 美国农村土地所有权的地理学研究在地理学和其它学科中有许多重要应用。

Tanto las fuentes académicas como las populares han indicado recientemente cambios importantes en la propiedad de la tierra rural a través de Estados Unidos: desde la consolidación de predios y el financiamiento hasta la desposesión racializada. Aunque la tierra y la propiedad de la tierra son temas fundamentales en geografía, y una amplia gama de atención disciplinaria se enfoca sobre la propiedad de la tierra, gran parte de la información empírica básica acerca de este tema en los EE.UU. sigue en tinieblas –en gran medida debido a la dificultad para acceder y analizar los datos sobre la propiedad–. Este artículo se preparó a partir de nuestras propias experiencias en un proyecto de investigación de acción participativa, designado como el Estudio de la tierra en los Apalaches, para esbozar algunos de los retos que se enfrentan al estudiar las geografías de la propiedad de la tierra en Estados Unidos, lo mismo que algunas de las posibilidades para orientar ese trabajo. Situamos brevemente este tipo de investigación en el contexto de las crisis políticas, económicas y ecológicas superpuestas de las actualidad, y argüimos que los estudios geográficos sobre la propiedad de la tierra rural en este país tienen muchas aplicaciones importantes en toda la disciplina y en otros campos.

Key Words:

• GIS
• land
• mixed methods
• ownership
• property
• rural

关键词：:

• 地理信息系统
• 土地
• 混合方法
• 所有权
• 财产
• 农村。

Palabras clave::

• métodos mixtos
• propiedad
• propiedad de la tierra
• rural
• SIG
• tierra

Notes

1 See https://antievictionmap.com/ and https://urbanpraxis.org/.

2 See https://www.landgrabu.org/.

3 For a discussion of the methods, findings, and legacy of the earlier study, see Scott (2009) and Scott (2008).

4 Dr. Betsy Taylor of the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network and Dr. Karen Rignall of University of Kentucky were also key collaborators in launching the updated Appalachian Land Study initiative.

5 We sought early guidance from and maintain ongoing relationships with 1979 ALOT study leaders and participants, including the study’s research director, now with the University of Sussex, John Gaventa; Susan Williams of the Highlander Center; Kentucky lawyer Joe Childers; and sociologist Shaunna Scott.

6 The land study—in partnership with Appalachian Voices, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, West Virginia Sierra Club, and Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network—hosted three fellows through the Appalachian Transition Fellowship administered by the Highlander Research and Education Center from 2014 to 2019. See https://highlandercenter.org/programs/appfellows/.

7 Compiled from 2018 tax year data retrieved from the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue and County Assessors. See http://www.wvgis.wvu.edu/data/dataset.php?ID=371.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lindsay Shade

LINDSAY SHADE is a Lecturer in the Department of Community and Leadership Development, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40505. E-mail: [email protected]. Their research in the U.S. South and the Ecuadorian Andes focuses on the legal geography of extractive industries and collaborative action research methodologies.

Levi Van Sant

LEVI VAN SANT is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrative Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests are in political ecology and environmental justice, particularly issues of agriculture and land-use in the U.S. South.