The Cultural Politics of Coal Production in Central Appalachia

• In Event: 119 - Regular Session. Corporate Power, Politics and the Environment

Abstract

Since beginning operations in Central Appalachia during, the coal industry has damaged the region in innumerable ways. Coal operators have economically exploited workers; expropriated community property; scarred the landscape with invasive mining techniques; damaged material infrastructure; and exposed community residents to health risks associated with pollution. Despite causing these problems, many Central Appalachians support the industry. Drawing on a nine-month immersive ethnography of “Shale County,” this paper examines why many Appalachians endorse the coal industry in spite of its negative externalities. Existing research suggests that those living in extractive communities support mining because they overvalue its economic benefits; articulate “community economic identity” with coal production; lack the capacity to protest due to the demands of hegemonic masculinity; and fear the ramifications of protest. Although these findings have improved understanding of pro-coal sentiment, I argue that by focusing on the economics of mining, scholars have neglected to focus on the cultural dimensions of coal production. Similarly, in focusing on impediments to social protest, they have examined processes of repression to the detriment of processes of consent. This paper thus analyzes the ways in which elites exert cultural leadership in coal communities in a way that secures consent for prevailing arrangements. While I delineate myriad forms of leadership, I focus on the way in which the industry has aligned coal mining with regional traditions. By taking stock of the symbolic benefits associated with industry presence, I argue that pro-coal sentiment evidences the industry’s cultural hegemony, not “false consciousness” or blocked political opportunity.

Author

• Philip George Lewin, Florida Atlantic University