Chapter 36 Quiz: The New Appalachia — Immigration, Remote Work, Tourism, and Reinvention
Multiple Choice
1. Latino immigration to Appalachian communities has been driven primarily by:
a) The tourism industry's need for hotel workers b) The poultry processing and meatpacking industries' recruitment of workers for dangerous, low-wage jobs that native-born Americans increasingly refused c) Federal relocation programs for refugees d) The tech industry's recruitment of software engineers
2. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated what economic trend in Appalachia?
a) The growth of coal mining employment b) The remote work migration — knowledge workers with high salaries relocating to mountain communities with lower costs of living c) The decline of tourism in all mountain communities d) The closing of all meatpacking plants in the region
3. The "Airbnb effect" refers to:
a) The creation of new hotels in mountain communities b) The conversion of long-term rental housing to short-term vacation rentals, reducing housing supply for permanent residents and driving up prices c) The construction of new affordable housing in tourist areas d) The improvement of broadband access in rural communities
4. The broadband gap in Appalachia exists primarily because:
a) Appalachian residents do not want internet access b) The mountainous terrain makes infrastructure expensive to build, and private internet providers have little financial incentive to serve small, dispersed populations c) Federal law prohibits broadband expansion in rural areas d) All Appalachian communities already have adequate broadband access
5. The chapter's comparison of data centers to the coal economy argues that:
a) Data centers are exactly the same as coal mines in every respect b) Data centers bring enormous numbers of jobs to rural communities c) The structural pattern of outside capital extracting value from the region while leaving minimal community benefit may repeat in new form with data centers d) Data centers are universally beneficial for Appalachian communities
6. Gentrification in Appalachian mountain towns differs from urban gentrification primarily because:
a) It does not actually occur in mountain towns b) The limited geography of mountain communities — finite buildable land constrained by ridges and valleys — means that displaced residents may have nowhere nearby to relocate c) Mountain town residents welcome all newcomers without reservation d) Mountain towns have unlimited housing supply
7. The chapter argues that the fundamental question about economic change in Appalachia is:
a) Whether change will occur b) Whether tourism is better than coal c) Who benefits from the change, who controls it, and whether the extraction pattern will repeat in new form d) Whether all newcomers should be prevented from moving to the region
8. The outdoor recreation economy has advantages over traditional tourism because:
a) It requires no natural resources b) It is less capital-intensive, more compatible with environmental conservation, and tends to attract visitors interested in the actual place c) It provides higher wages than any other industry d) It requires no infrastructure investment
9. The chapter draws a parallel between Latino immigration to modern Appalachia and:
a) The Trail of Tears b) The European immigrant workers (Italian, Hungarian, Polish) who came to the coalfields in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — both groups were recruited for dangerous work and faced hostility from native-born residents c) The remote work migration d) The construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway
10. The chapter's discussion of the tension between "preservation and change" argues that:
a) All change should be prevented b) All preservation is backward-looking c) The critical difference is between community-controlled change and externally imposed change — who makes the decisions, who sets the pace, and who bears the costs d) Tourism should replace all other economic activity in the region
Short Answer
11. Explain the housing affordability crisis in mountain communities experiencing growth. What are the specific mechanisms through which remote work migration and tourism drive up housing costs? Who is most affected?
12. The chapter describes the New River Valley as one model for Appalachian economic development. What are the strengths of this model? What are its limitations as a template for the broader region?
13. Describe the "extraction pattern" as it applies to the new economic forces in Appalachia. How does the chapter apply this concept — developed in earlier chapters about coal and timber — to tourism, data centers, and renewable energy?
Essay
14. The chapter asks: "Will the energy transition repeat the extraction pattern or break it?" Using evidence from this chapter, Chapter 32, and Chapter 37, write a 600-word essay evaluating the likelihood that Appalachia's economic transformation will benefit the people who have lived there longest — or whether the historical pattern of extraction will repeat itself in new form.
15. Compare the experience of Latino immigrants in the modern Appalachian poultry industry with the experience of European immigrants in the early twentieth-century coal industry (Chapter 19). In a 500-word essay, identify the parallels and differences, and evaluate whether the historical pattern of immigrant incorporation is likely to repeat itself for the current wave of immigration.