Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia.Homeplace Geography: Essays for Appalachia. By Donald Edward Davis. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press Mercer University Press, established in 1979, is a publisher that is part of Mercer University. External link
abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 978-0-88146-014-8.) Author Donald Edward Davis describes the engagement of communities with their environment, both historically and in the present, as having several dimensions, including the daily use of resources, historical and cultural memory, and political activism in the defense of the first two. The term homeplace geography for Davis encapsulates these multi-varied and localistic interactions, with particular emphasis on communities' political encounters with national and state government. Most of the articles have already been published, but some appeared in small journals that are now defunct, and one understands why Davis wants to see his work collected in accessible form. Originally published for diverse purposes, some of the articles overlap in content, while others seem too slight to be included. The result will strike most readers as idiosyncratic id·i·o·syn·cra·sy n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies 1. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. 2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity. 3. but compelling and introspective in·tro·spect intr.v. in·tro·spect·ed, in·tro·spect·ing, in·tro·spects To engage in introspection. [Latin intr nonetheless. One of Davis's recurring themes is that humans can interact and have interacted with their ecosystems in sustainable ways. Here, Davis means especially the Mississippian and Cherokee peoples who lived in the mountains before the arrival of European settlers, as described in chapter 11. But he also means white settlers, whose small-scale, localized use of resources was mostly benign, as found in chapter 13, chapter 18, and an especially poignant chapter 8. Only large-scale, corporate resource exploitation has, in very recent years, caused irrevocable environmental damage (note chapter 14, a short piece on mountaintop removal mining The examples and perspective in this subject are USA based and may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. practices, and chapter 12). Davis contends that white settlement has always been commercial as well as subsistence-oriented and that even small farmers gained marketable value from their natural surroundings. Davis argues, therefore, that ecological health and economic health fit together, a least on a local level. One implication is to undercut the oft-repeated canard ca·nard n. 1. An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story. 2. a. A short winglike control surface projecting from the fuselage of an aircraft, such as a space shuttle, mounted forward of the main wing and that environmental concern harms economic well-being; another is to question the work of the Nature Conservancy and other wilderness groups for unnecessarily eliminating a human presence in the preservation of healthy ecologies (see chapter 4). Davis's concern for localized, community-based action (whether economic or political) leads him to a critique of large-scale management of land and resources, from governmental agencies as well as from corporations. Most federal environmental policy, Davis says, especially as represented by the U.S. Forest Service, is misguided in its top-down approach Top-down approach A method of security selection that starts with asset allocation and works systematically through sector and industry allocation to individual security selection. that sacrifices local use of resources for corporate use. Even wilderness programs might do more ecological harm than good by bringing in "masses of urbanites" whose interests in recreation will take precedence over local rural living (p. 51). As an alternative, Davis lauds the actions of several community-based organizations that stem from--in the most over-used term in the book--the "grassroots" (p. 4). Organizations such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is a grassroots community organization founded in 1981. Though statewide, KFTC has deep roots in eastern Kentucky where coal mining remains the dominant industry. , Save Our Cumberland Mountains Save Our Cumberland Mountains, or SOCM, is a Tennessee activist group best known for their opposition to strip mining. They were founded in 1972 to oppose what they said were unfair imbalances in property taxes, described by a group of Vanderbilt students, between small and , and the Armuchee Alliance represent for Davis the most successful and meaningful organizational efforts that have yet been taken toward local community integrity. These are, Davis says, "membership-based" groups rather than single-issue groups; they engage the holistic well-being of local, rural life, in which ecological health is an essential component (p. 54). ROBERT S. WEISE Eastern Kentucky University Student Life The Eastern Kentucky University Office of Student Life works closely with Registered Student Organizations (RSO's), Greek Life, and Thursday Alternative Getaway (TAG). |
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