Rural Studies FAQ: The History and Future of Rural Studies

By: Jordan Cofer

What is Rural Studies?
The Rural Studies degree addresses the social, economic, cultural, demographic, and political aspects of rural development across the globe and educates students to work within rural communities or to work with government or corporate agencies that deal with rural issues. The four areas of study are

Social and Community Affairs
Arts and Culture
Writing and Communication
Business and Economic Development

Where did Rural Studies come from? A Brief Academic History
The short answer is that it developed out of a long conversation within “the academy.” The Long Answer is that colleges and universities all over the nation offer various IDS majors (Interdisciplinary Studies). Many of these programs have grown since their initial inception to become respected disciplines in their own right, such as: Religious Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Liberal (Arts) studies International Studies, Film Studies, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, etc.

The beauty of these programs is that they combine elements from several different disciplines—a useful premise since once you leave college, the more breadth you have, the more marketable you will be. The interdisciplinary majors focus on breadth rather than technical training.

Rural Studies developed out of American Studies, which is a study of the United States, but includes many other fields incorporated into it such as History, Political Science, Economics, Literature, Sociology, etc. American Studies has its roots in Harvard’s Interdisciplinary Studies program under Henry Nash Smith, yet came into fruition as a major course of study during the 1960s-1970s. Since then, American Studies has developed into a very broad, yet popular discipline with bachelors degrees at nearly 500 colleges in the United States alone. In fact, several colleges in Europe (and even Russia), offer American Studies programs.

Since the development of American Studies, several disciplines have broken off of the American Studies major, specifically, Urban Studies, Southern Studies and Appalachian Studies. Southern studies attempts to study the social, political and cultural aspects of the South through literature, art, culture, history, etc. and is offered as a discipline at several Southern universities such as Ole Miss, Southern Mississippi University, University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina, Louisiana State University and Mercer University (among others). While Rural Studies has a lot of cross-over with Southern Studies, it is not specifically isolated to the South. In fact, Rural Studies more closely mirrors Appalachian Studies. Appalachian studies is much like American studies, but as an “area-studies” program deals with issues specific to the Appalachian areas; thus, there is bound to be plenty of cross-over with Rural Studies.

Rural Studies, then, has developed as a response to Urban Studies, a popular major at many prestigious colleges such as Stanford, Brown, UPenn, among others. Urban Studies examines the history, politics and culture of urban areas, but also deals with many of the urban planning and infrastructure—essentially dealing with the current problems of a over-populated area.

The good thing for the Rural Studies program, academically, that gives it a step above similar area studies programs (American Studies, Appalachian Studies, Southern Studies, etc.) is that is not limited geographically to American soil. Actually, the program is expanding to Global studies (with a partnership in Greece and an increasing focus on Global Rural issues). This is especially good news for anyone considering graduate school because Global Studies is a very popular topic (and will be for some time). This means that your degree will be even more marketable due to its cross-discipline application.

What Can I Expect to learn as a Rural Studies Major?
Rural Studies seeks to study, examine and give students the skillset to solve many of the problems facing the Rural community. Currently, there are several schools who offer graduate programs concerning rural issues such as University of Kentucky and Iowa State University. Oregon State University’s graduate program was the pioneering Rural Studies sociology program, while the University of Vermont hosts the Center for Rural Studies, the University of Nebraska houses the Rural Initiative and California boasts the California Institute for Rural Studies research. However, ABAC is currently the only college to offer a bachelor’s degree in Rural Studies.

In the Rural Studies program, you will be able to study firsthand the issues and challenges of the Rural Life, which is not just limited to the United States, since ABAC has a partnership with Perrotis College in Thessaloniki, Greece. This will include studying Literature, History, Politics, Folklife and Culture, Communication, Economics and even Health in Rural areas. All of this will help graduate more well-rounded students who will opportunities to work in a variety of fields.

Some of the things you’ll learn as a Rural Studies Major:
Writing/communication skills- Effective communication skills are invaluable in any workplace.
Analytical/ Critical Thinking skills-Employers often say that you can train an employee to do a job, but you can’t train him/her to think. Critical thinking/analysis skills will come in handy for whatever you do after you finish your bachelors degree.
Research—Knowing how find information, format and cite that information from reliable and credible sources is in growing demand.
Familiarity- you’ll be more familiar and know more about the issues related to Rural America.
Interdisciplinary training— Having a skillset which spans disciplines only makes you more marketable.

Now, that you mention work…what kind of job can I expect to get with a Rural Studies degree?

That’s a good question. While the interdisciplinary title might scare some people into thinking they won’t be able to get a job. The truth is that we foresee the opposite, that students will be so well rounded that they won’t be limited to a single job type (a benefit of the interdisciplinary degree):

Government agencies (Federal, State and Local)
Non-profit organizations
Broadcasting
Writing/Journalism
Historic Preservation/ Museum (Rural Initiative Project)
Historians
Advocates
Business men/women
Public Administration
Politician
Policy analysts/Researchers
Or anyone looking for someone with knowledge of Rural areas

Graduate School:
In truth, students will very well-suited for graduate studies (if you so choose) studying any of the core areas you’ve studied as an R.S. Major:

Rural Studies
English
History
Political Science
Business Management

Also, R.S. students would be perfectly suited for this partial list of similar graduate programs:

Law
Library sciences
Public Policy
Economics
American Studies
Southern Studies
Appalachian Studies
Sociology
Anthropology
Journalism
Social Work
Historic Preservation/Museum Preservation
Education