Stuck between ‘the rock’ and a hard place: rural crisis and re-imagining rural Newfoundland feminine subjectivities

Abstract

There has been a growing body of research exploring the mobility experiences of rural youth as they migrate in search of work, education and leisure. In this article we contribute to this body of knowledge by examining the mobility experiences of young women (16–24 years) living on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, Canada. In contrast to dominant constructions of rural crisis that position out-of-the-way places as in decline, dying or dead, we argue that the young women in our study articulated complex, affective relations to place. In so doing, they negotiated localized histories, prevailing social relations, broader discursive constructions and embodied affective connections in forging their emplaced feminine subjectivities. We argue that foregrounding the complex and at times contradictory relationships that the young women articulated with their rural homes is an important step in prying open dominant albeit constraining constructions of the rural, thereby allowing for alternative and more inhabitable imaginings of out-of-the-way places.

Atrapadas entre la espada y la pared: crisis rural y la re-imaginación de las subjetividades femeninas en Newfoundland rural

Hay una creciente cantidad de literatura que analiza las experiencias de movilidad de los jóvenes del campo que migran en busca de trabajo, educación y entretenimiento. En este artículo contribuimos a este conocimiento examinando las experiencias de movilidad de jóvenes mujeres (16–24 años) que viven en la costa suroeste de Newfoundland, Canadá. En contraste con las construcciones dominantes de la crisis rural que posicionan a lugares apartados como en declinación, moribundos o muertos, sostenemos que estas jóvenes mujeres en nuestro estudio articularon complejas relaciones afectivas con el lugar. Al hacerlo, negociaron las historias localizadas, las relaciones sociales predominantes, las construcciones discursivas más amplias y las conexiones afectivas encarnadas al armar sus subjetividades femeninas emplazadas. Sostenemos que llevar al primer plano las complejas y a veces contradictorias relaciones que las jóvenes articularon con sus hogares rurales es un importante paso para desarticular construcciones dominantes aunque limitantes de lo rural, y así permitir imaginarios alternativos y más habitables de lugares apartados.

左支右绌、进退两难：农村危机与纽芬兰农村女性主体性的再想像

晚近有日益增加的研究，探讨农村青年为了工作、教育与休閒移居的流动经验。我们在本文中检视居住于加拿大纽芬兰西南沿岸的年轻女性（十六至二十四岁）的流动经验，以此对该知识做出贡献。我们主张，农村危机的主流建构，将偏僻的农村视为衰败、垂危或死亡之地，但与之相反的是，我们所研究的这些年轻女性，与地方接合了复杂的情感关係。她们以此在形成地方化的女性主体性中，协商在地化的历史、主流的社会关係、更广泛的论述建构，以及体现的情感联繫。我们主张，凸显年轻女性接合她们农村家乡的复杂且有时是矛盾的关係，是撬开主流、却同时是限制性的农村建构的重要一步，从而得以考量其他更宜居的偏僻地方想像。

Keywords::

• rural
• recreation
• feminine subjectivities
• work
• mobility

Palabras claves::

• rural
• entretenimiento
• subjetividades femeninas
• trabajo
• movilidad

关键词::

• 农村
• 休閒
• 女性主体性
• 工作
• 能动性

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the two reviewers of this paper for their insightful feedback, which improved the overall quality of the paper. We would also like to acknowledge that the CURRA initiative was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through its Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) program (grant number 833-2007-1027) and by Memorial University of Newfoundland, with additional financial and in-kind support from numerous community partners and groups (www.curra.ca). The Rural Youth subcomponent is also supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [GTA92108]. We would also like to thank Kathryn Dupre (Memorial University of Newfoundland) and Arla Day (St. Mary’s University), co-researchers on the Rural Youth subcomponent. Finally, we also acknowledge the work of Vanessa Farrell, coordinator for the southwestern branch of the CYN, who was instrumental as a community contact in helping to recruit participants. This research would not have been possible without her local knowledge and dedication to the project.

Notes

^1. Phrase taken from Bauman (2001).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Moss Edward Norman

Dr Moss Norman’s program of research has two main themes, with the sociological study of youth, masculinity and constructions of health, particularly in relation to obesity and fatness, forming one theme, and the sociology of youth and rural recreation comprising the other. In gaining insight into the lived complexities of youth, health, embodiment and recreation, Moss uses diverse and novel modes of qualitative inquiry, including focus groups, interviews, photovoice, life histories and archival elicitations. His work has appeared in journals such as Sport in Society, Men and Masculinities, and Annals of Leisure Research. He is currently working on a study comparing the mobility experiences of rural and urban Manitoba-Canadian youth. His study will focus on how gender, social class, ‘race’ (particularly Indigeneity) and place mediate leisure–pleasure mobilities within a broader political economic context of neoliberal restructuring.

Nicole Gerarda Power

Dr Nicole Power researches mainly in the areas of gender, work, occupational health and safety, fisheries and youth. Much of her research has been affiliated with large, multidisciplinary, mixed methods SSHRC or CIHR funded projects and has engaged the wider community through research partnerships. Her research appears in journals including Health, Risk & Society, Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, and the Annals of Leisure Research. In her book titled What Do They Call a Fisherman?: Men, Gender, and Restructuring in the Newfoundland Fishery (2005), she investigates the gendered and classed impacts of industrial restructuring and ecological collapse on Newfoundland men who fish inshore for a living. Power is the convener of the Women, Gender and Health Research Affinity Group at the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research. She is also a board member of the Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health and the Canadian Society for the Sociology of Health.