Date of Award

Summer 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Sociology & Criminal Justice

Program/Concentration

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Committee Director

Mica Deckard

Committee Member

Ruth Triplett

Committee Member

Tracy Sohoni

Committee Member

Brandi Woodell

Committee Member

Stephen Young

Abstract

What we frame as "the problem" in our society shapes our responses, which also shapes how and where we spend our resources. The prevailing narratives surrounding drug issues in rural coalfields, West Virginia, the Appalachian region, and arguably throughout the U.S. often mischaracterize the problem. This research explored the relationship between state/corporate violence, historical trauma, and concentrated substance misuse and harm in the rural, central Appalachian coalfields. This study employs a trauma-informed, critical ethnographic approach by utilizing participant observation and photo-elicitation interviewing to collect the data, and a critical qualitative framework to analyze it. The main findings of this research are as follows: historical trauma in the coalfields has been created and sustained by unchecked state and corporate violence within the region; (2) this violence and the historical trauma response has created a set and setting that influences individual experiences and is conducive to the level of substance misuse observed within the region; & (3) there are trauma-informed practices being implemented within the region but they are concentrated in metropolitan areas that are far away from the most-affected communities limiting the ability of these practices to account for the effects of historical trauma.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

ISBN

9798384455790

ORCID

0000-0003-0367-5508

Download

Share

COinS