Religion, Extraction, and Just Transition in Appalachia

Bibliographic Data

ID3464334
AuthorsJoseph D Witt (University of Tennessee at Knoxville, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume15
Issue10
Pages1261
Publication date2024-10-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15101261
OpenAlexW4403537199
LanguageEN
References cited43

This paper employs approaches from religious studies and Appalachian studies to examine the history, influence, and future of a multifaceted ethos of extraction, particularly as it influences the coal industry, in the Appalachian region of the United States. While many studies of extraction and the coal industry focus on their economic and political dimensions, by examining a broader ethos of extraction, this paper highlights multiple religious influences, including the entanglements between religious communities and extraction-based industries, the powerful moral narratives that serve to interpret and justify extraction, and the dynamics involved in shaping local identities and perceptions of place that enable this ethos to influence post-coal transition efforts. The result is a broad survey of the influences and impacts of resource extraction in Appalachia that challenges many of the longstanding stereotypes that can still be commonly found deployed about the region. In examining these influences, the paper also describes how academic interpreters have helped to shape popular conceptions of the Appalachian region that ultimately support ongoing extractive practices. Building upon insights from grassroots, anti-extractive activist communities in the region, the paper concludes by suggesting some ways that academics might adopt restorative ethics and practices in their work to address the entanglements between extractive scholarship and exploitation and devise alternative paths for just futures

Appalachia · Chromatography · Chemistry · Pentecostalism and Christianity Studies · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Tourism and Spaces · Geology · Paleontology

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