Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Hagerman, Margaret Ann
Committee Member
Thompson, Diego
Committee Member
Green, John
Committee Member
Rader, Nicole E.
Committee Member
Leap, Braden T.
Date of Degree
12-9-2022
Document Type
Dissertation - Open Access
Major
Sociology
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Department of Sociology
Abstract
This ethnography of white farmers and industry workers considers the interconnections of privilege and property through farming and how white farmers and industry workers justify and explain existing disparities in who farms and who does not. Data for this ethnography is from semi-structured interviews with white farmers and industry workers, participant observation at agricultural events, and analysis of relevant materials published by agricultural organizations. The stories that white farmers and industry workers tell and share to explain white rural wealth related to agriculture and whiteness in farming ignore the ways in which property was and is distributed in the U.S. from the arrival of the first white Europeans until now and instead rely on individually centered explanations rooted in the ideology of the American Dream and colorblind racial ideology.
Recommended Citation
Russell, Kelli J., "Whiteness and farming: an ethnography of white farmers’ understandings of inequality" (2022). Theses and Dissertations. 5652.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/5652
Included in
Inequality and Stratification Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Rural Sociology Commons