Abstract
The identity of people living in Central Appalachia is tightly connected with water. Because of the threats to water resources due to coal mining, and most recently, hydraulic fracturing and oil and gas pipeline projects, citizens have formed several nonprofit organizations to preserve or restore rivers and watersheds. Notably, women head the biggest, state-wide, most active and visible of these organizations. Grounded in 25 in-depth interviews with female water stewards in West Virginia, this article examines nurturing approaches, financial impediments, and opposition that make water stewardship in West Virginia essentially homosocial care work. Expanding on the knowledge-agency-care stewardship framework, this article contributes to the under-researched dimension of care. It also suggests that the analytical lens of homosociality is fruitful to understand the gender and power dynamics that hamper water stewardship in WV. Finally, it challenges the renewed stereotyping and essentializing of Appalachia through the representation of women as passive, ignorant, bound to their homes, victims of overdoses, sexual trafficking, and violent marital relationships by showing how, against material and societal odds, women persist in their care for water. (Less)
Highlights
On 12 February 2018, Lissa Lucas, a West Virginia resident, spoke at a public hearing on bill HB4268, which allows companies to drill on private land with the consent of 75% of landowners
The list consisted of 175 organizations, of which 104 were active, meaning they had an active web or Facebook page, had organized an event/meeting in the last 12 months, had a functioning phone number, and staff available via phone and/or email. These data were crucial in identifying leadership and its gender ratio, and contacting women engaged in water stewardship in WV
This article, which departs from stewardship literature, previous studies on women’s environmental activism in Appalachia, and current societal representations of West Virginia and its women, makes three main contributions
Summary
On 12 February 2018, Lissa Lucas, a West Virginia resident, spoke at a public hearing on bill HB4268, which allows companies to drill on private land with the consent of 75% of landowners. Lucas spoke and listed the financial contributions delegates had received from the industry. When asked to stop sharing “personal comments” about delegates on the floor, she persisted. She was escorted out of the House chambers. Her message, was not silenced, but rather made news (Nobel 2018). I will show how this episode is representative of women’s water stewardship in West Virginia
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