Publication Date

12-2011

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Dr. Amy Krull (Director), Dr. Douglas Smith, Dr. Stephen Groce

Degree Program

Department of Sociology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

The following study examines gendered learning experiences of a population of Appalachian migrants surveyed from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. The respondents who participated in the survey used for this study began their lives in Appalachia. These respondents then left Appalachia for various other areas in the country and even around the world only to ultimately return to the mountainous region later in their lives. To begin, theory will be introduced concerning the stratification of gender in the Appalachian economic landscape, as well as a theoretical framework placing Appalachian women in an interlocking web of oppression with other subjugated cultural groups. This outsider kinship found among Appalachian women and other socially ostracized groups, I argue with the support of theory, will foster an atmosphere of tolerance and positive interaction among Appalachian females and the people they meet in their new homes. Literature will also be presented regarding the heavily skewed nature of the role of women versus men in Appalachian society and economy. Using logistic regression, various aspects of migrant experiences away from Appalachia will be examined and analyzed, including the acquisition of job skills, tolerance-based knowledge, and positive interactions with neighbors in their new environment.

Disciplines

Demography, Population, and Ecology | Family, Life Course, and Society | Gender and Sexuality | Inequality and Stratification | Place and Environment | Rural Sociology | Sociology | Sociology of Culture

Download

Share

COinS