HEND 304BConvener: Gabe Schwartzman, University of Tennessee
Presenters:
- Barbara Ellen Smith, Emerita
- Philip Lewin, Florida Atlantic University
- Rebecca Scott, University of Missouri
- Cathy Kunkel, Independent
Authors’ Response
- John Gaventa, Institute for Development Studies
- Gabe Schwartzman, University of Tennessee
Summary: In this session, panelists respond to John Gaventa and Gabe Schwartzman's forthcoming book,
Power and Just Transition: the Struggle for a Post-Coal Future in an Appalachian Valley. Nearly fifty years after Gaventa's groundbreaking text,
Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley, the co-authors revisit the Clearfork Valley, the setting of the first book, and ask how power relations are shifting in a moment of fossil fuel transition. Fifty years ago, the coal company was a defining actor in relations of power in this valley. Now, the valley produces no coal and The Nature Conservancy, the world's wealthiest environmental organization, controls much of the land in the valley. The book raises questions about how power relations shift as actors and economies change, using a power framework to examine the rise of the conservative right, emerging for-profit conservation models, grassroots struggles for a just transition, and Biden-era investments in environmental justice and energy transition. Panelists will provide critical reflections on the new book and its contributions to Appalachian Studies scholarship.
