The continuum of coal violence and post-coal possibilities in the Appalachian South

Erin Eldridge

doi:10.2458/v22i1.21109

Abstract

From the coalfields in the mountains to the coal-fired power stations scattered throughout the region, the coal economy has long shaped landscapes and livelihoods in the Appalachian South. This article combines the "continuum of violence" framework developed by Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois (2004) with a political ecological approach to examine at the multiple dimensions of violence associated with the coal economy in the Appalachian South. Drawing on insights from fieldwork and the history of coal in the region, this article specifically examines the socio-political arrangements, perverse economic incentives, and legitimation strategies at the heart of the blatant, symbolic, and structural forms of violence that manifest all along the 'social life' of coal. There has always been much more to this popularly misunderstood region than coal, however. As a number of anthropologists working in the region recently noted, Appalachia also has a long history of activis m, solidarity networks, mutual aid traditions, and non-market subsistence strategies. To conclude, some of the possibilities emerging out of current crises of the coal economy are discussed.Keywords: extraction, coal economy, coal ash, socio-ecological violence, political ecology, Appalachia

Highlights

Coal, as a key fuel for industrialization, was once hailed as a means through which hu mans could free themselves from nature and enter a world of unending progress and growth
Drawing on the historical literature on coal catastrophes in the region, as well as research on coal ash and the politics of coal, this art icle co mbines a political eco logical approach with the "continuum of violence" framework developed by Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois (2004) to highlight the blatant, symbolic, and structural forms of v iolence that man ifest along the social life of coal
In an effort to avoid the pitfalls of a capitalocentric critique (Burke and Shear 2014) or what Ferguson (2009) calls the politics of "the antis", this article concludes by pointing to some of the possibilities emerg ing out of current crises of the coal economy

Summary

Introduction

As a key fuel for industrialization, was once hailed as a means through which hu mans could free themselves from nature and enter a world of unending progress and growth. Structural, or systemic, vio lence refers to the injustices embedded in the social order that limit life chances, such as unequal access to resources and decision-making power (Galtung 1969: 171) It is, Žižek (2008: 2) states, the "often catastrophic consequences of our economic and polit ical systems." This type of violence, as Farmer (2004) reminds us, can reveal itself in the form of wealth disparit ies, illness, and disease. Understanding socio-ecological vio lence requires investigation into local histories, resource environments, and ideological phenomena (Peluso and Watts 2001) It requires examin ing the polit ical economic processes that shape access and control over resources, as well as the material practices that produce exp losive and abrupt violence, and the "slow violence" of industrial contaminants that take shape in our bodies and ecosystems (Nixon 2011). Tracing the social life of coal, therefo re, can illu minate the socio-political and economic relations that produce violence along coal's trajectory

The violence of extraction

Violence beyond the mines

Findings

Crises and possibilities