The Rural-Urban Divide: How We Got Into This Mess, How We’ll Get Out

(image by Future Generations University)

A Future Generations University Webinar

LiKEN invites you to join Anthony Flaccavento, with guest speakers Kathy Cramer and Erica Etelson, on four free webinars in June hosted by Future Generations University. Please join us in taking a deeper dive into the rural-urban divide, how we got into this mess, and how we’ll get out. 

To Register for the Free Webinar 
7:00 – 8:00 PM EDT
Tuesday, June 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 2021
More information about the series.

More about the webinar series: The rural-urban divide is deep, widespread, and it is getting worse.  Liberal people from cities and suburbs think most rural folks are ignorant, racist, uncultured, stuck in the past, and their communities heading towards oblivion.  Many in the countryside view urban people, academics, and the government as elitist, contemptuous of rural ways, and dismissive of the people living and working there.  While race and racial resentment play major roles in this polarization, the divide between urban and rural is perhaps the most poorly understood component of our divisions.  And it’s killing us and dividing all of us, enabling the richest people and biggest corporations to dominate our democracy while the great majority of us fight amongst ourselves.  How did we get here and how do we begin to overcome the rural-urban divide?  More to the point, what role have people who espouse a fair and just world played in exacerbating the divide, and what must we do differently?

LiKEN and Appalachian Voices are proud co-sponsors of this Future Generations University webinar.

Heirs’ Property Across Race and Place, November 18, 2020

On Wednesday, November 18th, Betsy Taylor will participate in a panel discussion entitled “Heirs’ Property Across Race and Place.” This panel is part of the free webinar “All Land is not Creating Equal: Unleashing Family and Community Wealth through Land Ownership” hosted by the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation and the Aspen Institute. 

Betsy is participating in this panel as part of LiKEN’s new Heirs’ Property project, which investigates issues faced by heirs’ property owners in Appalachia and the southern Black Belt. Heirs’ property is created when land passes to two or more descendants who become “tenants in common” of the property. Heirs’ property can result in a variety of issues for land owners, including lack of incentive to make property improvements and risk of forced partition sales. The U.S. Department of Agriculture considers heirs’ property to be the “leading cause of Black involuntary land loss.” Cassandra Johnson Gaither (Social Scientist, US Forest Service), the panel’s facilitator has done extensive research on heirs’ property in the south. Johnson Gaither is a co-investigator on LiKEN’s new project on heirs’ property in KY, GA, and AL, along with LiKENeer Megan White (Project Director) and Betsy Taylor (LiKEN Executive Director).

For more information, and for free registration, go to this link