Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Technology, Gender, and Labor Transformation in Coal Counties of Kentucky
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The permanent decline of coal in Appalachian Kentucky has prompted new state and private economic initiatives. Combined with advances like broadband access, programs seek to open up rural areas of Kentucky to new technology jobs—from telecommunication and customer service work to coding and software development. Politicians, state entities, and local businesses bill rural Eastern Kentucky as an up and coming technology frontier with a ready workforce and often refer to the area as a potential “Silicon Holler.” Likewise, news stories and businesses commonly market representations of regional coal miner identity and its positive qualities to outside business partners through discussions about “guys” with “mountain work ethic” and “grit.” In a state where women now represent more than half of primary household earners, however, this begs the questions 1) How do businesses navigate the marketing of Appalachian culture and address what may be masculine stereotypes of coal miners from the region? and, 2) How do women workers imagine their role within this economic transition? This paper addresses these questions using data collected through ethnographic observation, interviews, and shadowing of everyday interaction among trainees and workers—many former coal miners—who are associated with new mobile technology jobs in Appalachian Kentucky.
Keywords: work, gender, technology, Kentucky
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Lauren Hayes is a lecturer in Anthropology at UC Davis and a 2018 Wilma Dykeman “Faces of Appalachia” Post-doctoral Research Fellowship Recipient.
Technology, Gender, and Labor Transformation in Coal Counties of Kentucky
The permanent decline of coal in Appalachian Kentucky has prompted new state and private economic initiatives. Combined with advances like broadband access, programs seek to open up rural areas of Kentucky to new technology jobs—from telecommunication and customer service work to coding and software development. Politicians, state entities, and local businesses bill rural Eastern Kentucky as an up and coming technology frontier with a ready workforce and often refer to the area as a potential “Silicon Holler.” Likewise, news stories and businesses commonly market representations of regional coal miner identity and its positive qualities to outside business partners through discussions about “guys” with “mountain work ethic” and “grit.” In a state where women now represent more than half of primary household earners, however, this begs the questions 1) How do businesses navigate the marketing of Appalachian culture and address what may be masculine stereotypes of coal miners from the region? and, 2) How do women workers imagine their role within this economic transition? This paper addresses these questions using data collected through ethnographic observation, interviews, and shadowing of everyday interaction among trainees and workers—many former coal miners—who are associated with new mobile technology jobs in Appalachian Kentucky.
Keywords: work, gender, technology, Kentucky
