Geography 490c The Country and the City Fall 2009

Rural Poverty and Exclusion

Small Group Discussion Questions

In what ways is poverty visible and invisible in the rural landscape?

What is different about rural vs. urban poverty?

What are some ways to alleviate rural poverty and to what extent do they succeed or fail?

To what degree is the myth of the "rural idyll" responsible for rural poverty?

Additional Questions

Why do some rural places (poverty migration catchments) attract large numbers of poor in-migrants and why are the rural poor moving between such places?

To what extent is mobility both a coping mechanism for poor migrants and a cause of poverty?

Given what we have learned about the information seeking and decision making process involved in migrations of rural residents who are impoverished, what interventions would you suggest to help alleviate poverty?

Geo 490c The Country & the City Spring 2009 Department of Geography and Meteorology Valparaiso University
Today's Readings Woods Chpater 19: Hidden Rural Lifestyles: Poverty and Social Exclusion Foulkes, Matt, and K. Bruce Newbold. 2008. Poverty Catchments: Migration, Residential Mobility, and Population Turnover in Impoverished Rural Illinois Communities. Rural Sociology 73, no. 3: 440-462. Activities Discussion in Groups Reading Notes As you read think about the following questions: How is rural poverty distinct from urban poverty? What processes explain the pattern of persistently poor counties in the map in your text? How do geographical context and indivdual choices contribute to rural poverty? How has rural restructuring contributed to rural poverty? What are various methods of alleviating rural poverty? To what degree do they work? Key Terms: Salamon's neighborhood hypothesis, Poverty Migration Catchments	Rural Poverty and Exclusion Small Group Discussion Questions In what ways is poverty visible and invisible in the rural landscape? What is different about rural vs. urban poverty? What are some ways to alleviate rural poverty and to what extent do they succeed or fail? To what degree is the myth of the "rural idyll" responsible for rural poverty? Additional Questions Why do some rural places (poverty migration catchments) attract large numbers of poor in-migrants and why are the rural poor moving between such places? To what extent is mobility both a coping mechanism for poor migrants and a cause of poverty? Given what we have learned about the information seeking and decision making process involved in migrations of rural residents who are impoverished, what interventions would you suggest to help alleviate poverty?

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