Chapter 36 Further Reading: The New Appalachia — Immigration, Remote Work, Tourism, and Reinvention

Fink, Leon. The Maya of Morganton: Work and Community in the Nuevo New South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. The definitive study of Guatemalan Maya immigration to Morganton, North Carolina, and the poultry processing industry that recruited them. Fink traces the global connections that linked indigenous communities in the Guatemalan highlands to small-town Appalachia, documenting the workers' exploitation, their community building, and their labor organizing with scholarly rigor and narrative power. Essential for understanding the human dimensions of the new immigration to Appalachia.

Eller, Ronald D. Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008. Eller's comprehensive history of post-World War II Appalachia provides essential context for understanding the economic transformations described in this chapter. His analysis of how federal development programs shaped (and often distorted) the region's economy illuminates the structural dynamics that continue to determine who benefits from economic change and who does not.

Stoll, Steven. Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia. New York: Hill and Wang, 2017. Stoll traces the deep history of how Appalachian communities were dispossessed of their economic self-sufficiency — from the enclosure of common lands through the broad form deed to the modern extraction economy. His analysis provides the historical framework for understanding why the "new economy" risks repeating the extraction pattern if community ownership is not centered.

Smith, Barbara Ellen. "De-gradations of Whiteness: Appalachia and the Complexities of Race." Journal of Appalachian Studies 10, no. 1/2 (2004): 38-57. A foundational essay on how whiteness, race, and immigration intersect in Appalachian communities — providing theoretical context for understanding both the welcome and the hostility that Latino immigrants have encountered in the region. Smith's analysis complicates simplistic narratives about Appalachian racial attitudes.

Anglin, Mary K. "Lessons from Appalachia in the 20th Century: Poverty, Power, and the 'Grassroots.'" American Anthropologist 104, no. 2 (2002): 565-82. An anthropological perspective on the relationship between economic change, community power, and grassroots organizing in Appalachia. Anglin's work is particularly relevant to this chapter's analysis of who controls economic development and how community agency can be maintained in the face of external economic forces.

Gaventa, John. Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980. Gaventa's classic study of power dynamics in an Appalachian community remains essential reading for anyone trying to understand why communities that are being harmed by economic forces often do not resist. His framework of the "three dimensions of power" — including the power to shape what people consider possible — is directly applicable to the dynamics of gentrification, displacement, and community control described in this chapter.

Lichter, Daniel T., and Kenneth M. Johnson. "The Changing Spatial Concentration of America's Rural Poor Population." Rural Sociology 72, no. 3 (2007): 331-58. A demographic study of poverty concentration in rural America, including Appalachia, that provides data context for understanding the economic landscape into which new immigrants, remote workers, and tourists are arriving. The study documents the uneven geography of rural poverty and the persistence of spatial inequality.

Obermiller, Phillip J., and Michael E. Maloney. Appalachia: Social Context Past and Present. 6th ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2016. A comprehensive reader on Appalachian social conditions that includes essays on immigration, economic development, and community change. The collection provides multiple perspectives on the transformations described in this chapter and connects them to the broader context of Appalachian social history.

Loh, Tracy Hadden, Christopher Coes, and Becca Buthe. "The Great Real Estate Reset: Separate and Unequal: Persistent Residential Segregation Is Sustaining Racial and Economic Injustice." Brookings Institution, 2020. Though not Appalachia-specific, this Brookings analysis of housing market dynamics, segregation, and displacement provides essential context for understanding the gentrification processes described in this chapter — particularly the displacement of Black communities in Asheville and the housing affordability crisis in mountain towns experiencing growth.

Isserman, Andrew M. "Appalachia Then and Now: An Update of 'The Realities of Deprivation' Reported to the President in 1964." Journal of Appalachian Studies 3, no. 1 (1997): 43-69. Isserman's analysis of how Appalachian economic conditions changed between the 1960s and the 1990s provides essential baseline data for understanding the more recent transformations described in this chapter. His finding that much of Appalachia had improved economically while certain subregions remained deeply distressed helps explain the uneven geography of the "new Appalachia."

Appalachian Regional Commission. Annual Reports and Data Reports. Various years. Available at arc.gov. The ARC's data publications provide the quantitative foundation for understanding demographic change, economic development, broadband access, and other indicators discussed in this chapter. The ARC's county-level data allow detailed comparison across the region and over time.