
The Livelihood of Kin
Making Ends Meet "the Kentucky Way"
Rhoda H. Halperin(Author)
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. January 1991
Book
Paperback/Softback
199 pages
978-0-292-74670-1 (ISBN)
Description
Rural Appalachians in Kentucky call it "The Kentucky Way"-making a living by doing many kinds of paid and unpaid work and sharing their resources within extended family networks. In fact, these strategies are practiced by rural people in many parts of the world, but they have not been studied extensively in the United States. In The Livelihood of Kin, Rhoda Halperin undertakes a detailed exploration of this complex, family-oriented economy, showing how it promotes economic well-being and a sense of identity for the people who follow it.
Using actual life and work histories, Halperin shows how people make a living "in between" the cash economy of the city and the agricultural subsistence economy of the country. In regionally based, three-generation kin networks, family members work individually and jointly at many tasks: small-scale agricultural production, food processing and storage, odd jobs, selling used and new goods in marketplaces, and wage labor, much of which is temporary. People can make ends meet even in the face of job layoffs and declining crop subsidies. With these strategies people win a considerable degree of autonomy and control over their lives.
Halperin also examines how such multiple livelihood strategies define individual identity by emphasizing a person's role in the family network over an occupation. She reveals, through psychiatric case histories, what damage can result when individuals leave the family network for wage employment in the cities, as increasing urbanization has forced many people to do.
While certainly of interest to scholars of Appalachian studies, this lively and readable study will also be important for economic anthropologists and urban and rural sociologists.
Using actual life and work histories, Halperin shows how people make a living "in between" the cash economy of the city and the agricultural subsistence economy of the country. In regionally based, three-generation kin networks, family members work individually and jointly at many tasks: small-scale agricultural production, food processing and storage, odd jobs, selling used and new goods in marketplaces, and wage labor, much of which is temporary. People can make ends meet even in the face of job layoffs and declining crop subsidies. With these strategies people win a considerable degree of autonomy and control over their lives.
Halperin also examines how such multiple livelihood strategies define individual identity by emphasizing a person's role in the family network over an occupation. She reveals, through psychiatric case histories, what damage can result when individuals leave the family network for wage employment in the cities, as increasing urbanization has forced many people to do.
While certainly of interest to scholars of Appalachian studies, this lively and readable study will also be important for economic anthropologists and urban and rural sociologists.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
298 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-74670-1 (9780292746701)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rhoda H. Halperin (1946-2009) was Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Montclair State from 2004-2009. She was also Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, at the University of Cincinnati.
Content
Preface
1. Introduction
2. An Overview
3. Fieldwork
4. Historical and Anthropological Overview
5. Deep Rural Economy: Multiple Livelihood Strategies in "The Country"
6. Multiple Livelihood Strategies in the Shallow Rural Area
7. The Structure of a Regional Marketplace System
8. Using the Periodic Marketplace System
9. Generating Cash: Families, Factories, and Multiple Livelihood Strategies
10. The Breakdown of Multiple Livelihood Strategies
11. Conclusion: Livelihood Processes That Cross Boundaries
Appendix. The Vendor Population at the Redside Market: A Sample
Notes
Bibliography
Index
1. Introduction
2. An Overview
3. Fieldwork
4. Historical and Anthropological Overview
5. Deep Rural Economy: Multiple Livelihood Strategies in "The Country"
6. Multiple Livelihood Strategies in the Shallow Rural Area
7. The Structure of a Regional Marketplace System
8. Using the Periodic Marketplace System
9. Generating Cash: Families, Factories, and Multiple Livelihood Strategies
10. The Breakdown of Multiple Livelihood Strategies
11. Conclusion: Livelihood Processes That Cross Boundaries
Appendix. The Vendor Population at the Redside Market: A Sample
Notes
Bibliography
Index