NCJ Number
208841
Date Published
2004
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses the mechanisms of social and cultural regulation that cultivate the mindset that people of color disrupt and disturb the preferred image of the characteristics of rural residents.
Abstract
The traditional images of British rural life have long met the yearnings of Britons for a way of life that has been lost in urban areas. The preferred vision of rural Britain consists of large land spaces that are undeveloped or used for agriculture and forestry; small settlements surrounded by sparsely settled land masses; and a way of life characterized by respect for environmental and behavioral qualities that preserve the rural landscape. Rurality has thus become synonymous with a way of life before urbanization when people lived in socially cohesive, happy, small communities surrounded by aesthetically pleasing, expansive, uncluttered landscapes. In short, the rural countryside is perceived as the last bastion of key symbols of English national identity in the face of pluralized urbanized areas permeated by multiculturalism and the influence of immigrant groups. The efforts of rural residents to preserve dominant national images of their traditional way of life have included a rural racism that polices the "purity" of rurality in a number of subtle but often criminal ways. The ultimate intent is to make people of color feel they are not a legitimate part of rural communities and rural life and to so marginalize them that they either leave or are rendered virtually invisible to those disturbed by their visible presence. Numerous covert and overt examples of rural racism show a pattern of practices designed to "purify" the Whiteness of rural space. An alternative mindset for rural life that encompasses diversity in various manifestations is clearly in order. 47 references