Agricultural Science Curriculum

 

JINS 325: RURAL AMERICA

Dr. Michael Seipel
3082 Magruder Hall
785-4316 (Office)
mseipel@truman.edu


CATALOG DESCRIPTION

This course examines the topic of rural America through the lenses of various disciplines. The course explores ways of conceptualizing and defining "rural," describes the geographic, social, economic, and political characteristics of rural places, and discusses the implications of using alternative perspectives. Beyond this common introduction, specific sections of the course will examine in more detail selected contemporary issues relevant to rural people and places.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. Draw on multiple ways of knowing to gain an appreciation for the diverse people, landscapes, and cultural traditions that constitute rural America.
2. Become familiar with various ways of defining, identifying, and understanding rural America, and explore the implications of alternative approaches.
3. Develop a deeper understanding of selected issues currently confronting rural America.
4. Use writing as a means of communication and a method of learning, producing multiple works reflecting growth in thinking and writing.
5. Produce a substantial work of scholarship focused on an issue of contemporary or historical relevance to rural America that engages concepts and tools from two or more disciplines to achieve greater insight and understanding.
6. Explore what it means to live in a “rural community” and examine the issues facing residents of these communities.
7. Evaluate the economic, social, environmental, and governmental impacts of changes in the structure of agriculture on rural areas.
8. Investigate issues arising from population and demographic changes in rural areas.

PREREQUISITES

ENG 190 "Writing as Critical Thinking"; junior standing; completion of sophomore writing experience.

REQUIRED TEXT

1. Castle, Emery N. (ed.) 1995. The Changing American Countryside. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press.
2. Meyers, Kent. 1998. The Witness of Combines. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
3. Readings packet. Available in University Bookstore.
4. Selected Handouts.

WHAT IS A JUNIOR INTERDISCIPLINARY WRITING ENHANCED SEMINAR (JINS) COURSE?

The JINS course is a new type of course being developed as part of Truman’s Liberal Studies Program (LSP) to help students draw together ideas from different knowledge bases. As stated in the Outcome Statements for the LSP,

Interdisciplinary study should offer a model of how connections can be made. It should expose students to multiple ways of thinking about issues, problems, and concepts. It should enable the simultaneous use of multiple modes of inquiry and demonstrate that their source of power is synergistic rather than additive.

In other words, engaging in interdisciplinary thought and analysis means not only using concepts and tools from multiple academic disciplines to understand some phenomenon, but also integrating them to achieve greater understanding than is possible using the two approaches "side by side". In this course, we will use the concepts, tools, and methods of multiple disciplines to better understand rural people and places and to examine some of the issues currently facing rural America. Because this course is “writing-enhanced”, we will also focus on the development of writing skills and the use of writing as a way to achieve deeper understanding about our subject matter. We will focus on the thought that goes into writing, the writing process itself, and the final written product as key components of the learning process in the class.

COURSEINFO WEB SITE

The course web site can be accessed via http://cinfo.truman.edu (use your email id as login and SSN as password). We will use the site in a variety of ways; some required readings will be posted only on the site for online reading and/or printing.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1 Introduction

• Introductions (to the course and to one another)
• What about rural America is of interest to you?
• Why study rural areas? Castle, “The Forgotten Hinterlands” (Ch. 1, in CASTLE)
• What does it mean to live in a rural area?: Relatives, friends, and neighbors; Town kids vs. Farm kids; and other stories… Meyers, pp. 1-56 & 125-139 (in MEYERS)

Week 2 Rural America re-considered: Some Negatives And a Little about Disciplines and Interdisciplinarity

• Drawbacks to living in rural areas; Chronicle of Higher Education article (handout); "Rural Roads More Deadly…" and "Speeding in Rural Areas" (READ. PACKET)
• “Thinking with Discipline(s)”: A Group Exercise; Seipel, "Interdisciplinarity: An Introduction" (on WEBSITE); Nissani, "Ten Cheers for Interdisciplinarity" (on WEBSITE)

Week 3 Rural: The "Official" Definitions

• Urban vs. Rural and Metropolitan vs. Nonmetropolitan; Hart, “’Rural’ and ‘Farm’ No Longer Mean the Same” (Ch. 4 in CASTLE)
• Rurality as a continuum: The Rural-Urban Continuum (Beale) Codes (USDA-ERS web site on Beale Codes: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/rurality/RuralUrbCon/

Week 4 A Geographic Approach: The importance of space, place, and location

• Evaluating rural landscapes; Hart, “Understanding Landscape” (in READING PACKET)
• Video: Death of the Dream

Week 5 Rural as "Culture": Bringing in Anthropology and Sociology

• What Then is Rural? Challenges to Rural and Community Identity” Fitchen, Ch. 16 (in READING PACKET)
• “Anthropological Approach to Studying Change in Rural Communities” Fitchen Appendix One (in READING PACKET)
• A Rural Culture Quiz
• Soundbyte: The Nebraska Finger Wave
• Video: Postville

Week 6 Using Economics to Understand Rural America

• Some key concepts from economics (economic base, economies of scale, division of labor, location quotient)
• Economic trends for rural areas; Mills, “The Location of Economic Activity in Rural and Nonmetropolitan United States” (p. 103-109 only in Ch. 6 in CASTLE); Weber, “Extractive Industries…” (p. 155-167 only in Ch. 7 in CASTLE); Drabenstott and Smith, “Finding Rural Success: The New Rural Economic Landscape and Its Implications” (Ch. 9 in CASTLE)

Week 7 NO CLASS: Individual Conferences with Instructor

Week 8 Rural Culture through your eyes: PRESENTATION OF RURAL PORTRAITS

Week 9 Social fabric of rural America: ”sense of place” and “sense of community”

• Being of a place versus being from a place; Meyers, "Old Waters" and "Going Back" (in MEYERS)
• The necessity of community in the rural Great Plains; Kemmis, Ch. 4, “Barn Raising” (in READING PACKET)
• Institutions of rural communities; "Faith, Fear, and Farming" (in READING PACKET)

Week 10 Rural America in Art & Literature: The Aesthetic Dimension

• More of Meyer's rural aesthetic experience; Meyers pp. 87-124 (in MEYERS)
• A survey of rurality in literature; Howarth, “Reading the Land: Literature and the Countryside” (Ch. 2 in CASTLE)
• Visual portrayals of rural areas in art; Chapin, "Fading Refrain" (in READING PACKET); Farm Security Administration B&W Depression-Era Photos

Week 11 STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION OF READING TOPICS: Health and Health Care in Rural America

• Core Reading: "Rural Americans Lag in Health Survey" (in READING PACKET)
• Small group discussion of Final Projects

Week 12 STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION OF READING TOPICS: A Rural-Urban Issue: Urban Sprawl

• Core Reading: Lewis, "The Urban Invasion: Emergence of the Galactic City." (Ch. 3, CASTLE); Lacayo, "The Brawl over Sprawl." (READING PACKET)

Week 13 STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION OF READING TOPICS: "Industrialization" of Agriculture & its impact on Rural America

• Core Reading: Bell, "They Bring Jobs and Money, But They Also Bring Trouble." (in READING PACKET)
• Meyers, pp. 159-217 (in MEYERS)

Week 14 STUDENT-LED DISCUSSION OF READING TOPICS: Environmental and Natural Resource Conflicts in Rural America

• Core Reading: Starrs, “Conflict and Change on the Landscapes of the Arid American West” (Ch. 14 in CASTLE); Watkins, "High Noon in Cattle Country" (READING PACKET)
• Meyers, pp. 159-217 (in MEYERS)

Week 15 Begin Presentation of Final Projects

Week 16 Presentations continue

ASSIGNMENTS

This section describes the major learning exercises that we will undertake in this class.

1. Approaches to Conceptualizing Rurality

   What it means to be “rural” can be understood very differently, depending on whether one focuses on characteristics of the rural population, the landscape, economic activity, the aesthetic experience of living in a rural setting, or social and cultural identity. Each of these provides important insight yet, taken in isolation, each approach provides an incomplete understanding of rurality. In this assignment you will synthesize multiple approaches to develop a more complete understanding of rural. You will begin with the "official" definitions of urban/rural and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan used by the Census Bureau and other governmental agencies. You will then discuss the alternative perspective on rural provided by one or two of the disciplines discussed in class (geography, economics, sociology, etc.) and attempt to integrate these perspectives to paint a more complete picture of rural America.

2. A Small Town "Experience": Group Project

   For this assignment, you will learn about the history of a small, northeast Missouri town, then take the role of an anthropologist or ethnographer and study social interaction among people in that rural setting.

   You will sign up for one of five available towns in groups of no less than four (4) and no more than six (6) members. The group will document the history of the town (specifically, the date of and reason for its founding, name and origin of its founder(s), the year and size of its population peak, and perhaps one major event in its history) by using resources from Pickler Library, the Adair County Historical Society, and the WWW. The group will then visit the community on one of two occasions: either travel to and observe a high school basketball game OR visit the community on a Saturday and eat at a local eating establishment. In either case, group members will visit with some community members to solicit information on current issues and events in the community.

   Group members will discuss and compare notes on their observations in the community, then the group will collectively write a summary which documents the community's history and pulls together the individual observations of each group member from their visit to the community. The final paragraph of the group paper should reflect on how each person’s observations and reactions were influenced by his/her background and familiarity with small town life.

3. Portrayals of “Rural” in Popular Culture: Movie Critique

   Rurality is a common subtheme in contemporary movies and novels. The focus on rural may be very explicit—as in movies such Country or The River—which portray farmers’ battles with natural or economic disasters, or more implicit—as in novels (or movies) like A Thousand Acres or novels such as The Sweet Hereafter or Goodnight, Nebraska—that use rural landscapes and lifestyles as a backdrop to primary themes. We will generate a list of possible contemporary movies with rural themes, and then groups of three to five students will watch and discuss one of these movies. Each group will write a short critique of the portrayal of rural in the movie.

4. “Rural Portrait” Project

   What does a rural area “look” or “feel” like? What’s it like to live in a rural area? In this assignment you have an opportunity to construct your own portrayal of what rural areas are like. Your final portrait should be a "collage" of rural images, that may include not only pictures (either personal or from advertisements, etc.), but also poetry, song lyrics, literary works, video, etc. These items don’t have to portray a “positive” image of rural areas—we want the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of rural. Start collecting these images/items as soon as possible. You will turn in your final portrait during the 5th week of class and explain to the class why it represents to you the essence of rurality. You can do a low-tech presentation, assembling your components on a posterboard or a high-tech presentation, using the I-Movie technology available at the Teaching and Learning Technology Center (formerly New Media Center) in PML. The high-tech option has the added advantage of allowing you to incorporate video and sound as well as still images and text. The I-Movie software is relatively user friendly and I would be happy to help you set up a time at the TLTC to learn to use it.

5. Journal Entries

   Over the course of the semester, you will write five (5) short (one paragraph) journal entries in response to specific readings or prompts. Each entry is worth 10 points; the entries will be read, graded, and returned to you. Entries will be graded for mechanics (grammar, spelling, etc.) and depth and originality of thought or reflectivity demonstrated. The five journal topics are as follows:

   • Why is rural America worthy of study and understanding?
   • Develop your own definition of interdisciplinarity and apply it to rural America.
   • React to the "Death of the Dream" video.
   • React to the ”Postville" video.
   • Nominate a rural woman for inclusion in Chapin's photo essay and explain reason for your nomination.

6. Final Semester Project

   The culminating assignment for the course is a major paper combining concepts, methodologies, and/or data from multiple disciplines to examine a rural issue. The topic can be of your choosing, but should deal with a contemporary or historical issue of relevance to rural people and places. You may develop your project in a research format, in which you identify a research question, develop hypotheses, and select methods and data sources that will enable you to address these hypotheses. Alternatively, you may use an “article critique” format for your project, in which you assemble and review literature using different disciplinary approaches to examine a similar issue, and then attempt to integrate or synthesize the findings of the different articles to develop a deeper understanding of the issue. Whatever format you choose, the critical component of this assignment is its interdisciplinarity—that you use the different disciplinary concepts, methodologies, or data sources in an integrative, rather than additive, way. That is, by exploring multiple facets of the issue, the final product should provide a deeper, or more nuanced understanding of this issue than could be gained by using each of these tools independently.

   You will submit a 1-2 page pre-proposal that outlines the general topic you would like to pursue in your project. This initial pre-proposal is ungraded, but will give me an opportunity to offer feedback and suggestions on a direction for your project. You will then submit a formal proposal that outlines in significant detail the project you plan to complete. The proposal should contain a problem statement, research question, or thesis statement that clearly defines the topic you are examining. It should then describe the methodology and data sources or previous research that you will use to complete the project. It should also outline and describe the disciplinary perspectives being used in your final project. This section should outline the fundamentals theories, concepts, or methods being utilized from each discipline, describe specifically how they apply to the topic at hand, and then briefly describe the specific articles or data being used from that discipline. The proposal will be graded and returned to you.

   You will submit a finished draft of your project to the instructor and one peer reviewer during the 14th week of the semester; this draft will not be graded, but will be returned with feedback. You will submit the final draft of the paper on the last regular day of class. You will present your project during one of the last three regular class periods or the time scheduled for our final examination.

BASIS OF STUDENT EVALUATION

Specific written assignments are described above, with due dates for those assignments listed in the course outline. Besides prompt submission of these written assignments, the other expectations for the course are that you will:

1. attend class regularly,
2. participate in class discussion,
3. present overviews of assigned readings and initiate related class discussion periodically during the semester,
4. and participate in peer writing groups—providing feedback on the style, mechanics, and content of paper drafts of other group members.

Your level of participation in these activities will determine your final grade if you are on the "borderline" between two letter grades. The points allocated to these assignments are as follows:

Assignment	Point value
Conceptualizing Rurality Paper	150
Small town "experience" group paper	50
Movie critique	50
Rural portrait project	50
Peer reviews of papers (25 pts. x 2)	50
Pre-proposal for Final Project	0
Proposal for Final Project	100
Journal entries (10 pts. x 5)	50
Presentation of Final Semester Project	50
Final Semester Project Final Draft	150
For a total of	700

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOURCES FOR READING PACKET

Beale, Calvin. 1998. "Nonmetro Population Rebound: Still Real but Diminishing." Rural Conditions and Trends 9(2): 20-27.
Bell, Bill Jr. 2000. "The Bring Jobs and Money, But They Also Bring Trouble". St. Louis Post Dispatch Newspaper.
Fitchen, Janet. Endangered Spaces, Enduring Places. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991.
Flora, Cornelia Butler, Jan L. Flora, Jacqueline D. Spears, Louis E. Swanson, with Mark B. Lapping and Mark L. Weinberg. 1992. Rural Communities: Legacy and Change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Hart, John Fraser. 1998. The Rural Landscape. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
Horwitz, Richard P. 1998. Hog Ties: Pigs, Manure, and Mortality in American Culture. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Kemmis, Daniel. 1990. Community and the Politics of Place. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Lacayo, Richard. 1998. "The Brawl over Sprawl." Time Magazine.
Lockeretz, William (editor). 1997. Visions of American Agriculture. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Meyers, Kent. 1998. The Witness of Combines. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Nassauer, Joan Iverson. 1997. "Agricultural Landscapes in Harmony with Nature." Pp. 59-76 in William Lockeretz (editor) Visions of American Agriculture. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Spain, Daphne. 1993. "Been-Heres Versus Come-Heres: Negotiating Conflicting Community Identities." Journal of the American Planning Association 59(2): 156-171.
Toennies, Ferdinand. 1887 (1988). "Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft." Pp. 7-15 in Roland Warren (editor), New Perspectives on the American Community (5th edition) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Watkins, T.H. 2000. "High Noon in Cattle Country." Sierra.