Tobacco Town Futures Ethnography
Introduction
For her research for her doctorate in cultural anthropology, Ann Kingsolver chose to study in Carlisle, Kentucky. She went back to Nicholas County, her hometown, for a long field study on and off for the following 25 years. The agricultural economy in Kentucky mainly depended on tobacco, which was particularly the case in Nicholas County, a place with a population of about 7,000 people. According to them, the county’s terrain, material culture, social links, financial system, and agricultural information base are all significantly related to tobacco (Kingsolver 9). Nonetheless, Kentucky’s agricultural economy is not dominated by smoking anymore.
There has been a considerable decline in the demand for tobacco in America through the years. In 1998, the 46 states of America worked out a Master Settlement Agreement worth over 245 billion dollars with the leading tobacco industries to repay countries for health expenditures associated with smoking, stop the majority kinds of tobacco advertising, and take actions to alleviate smoking rates in teenagers. Ten years later, in 2004, the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act abolished tobacco advertising quotas and cost-support initiatives imposed by the government. For the first time in over 70 years, tobacco will be produced with no limitations from the authorities or with no price guarantees that have shielded the majority of farmers from the possibility of losing their finances. Currently, tobacco makes up less than 10% of agricultural sales in Kentucky, a considerable drop from 25% in the 90s.
Methods
Kingsolver’s ethnography is based on research of a quarter-century of Nicholas County. The author employs both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection in her study. Kingsolver collects numerical data to expound on characteristics and establish correlations. On the other hand, she interviews farmers, factory employees, people seeking new niches in the labor market, politicians, and students and documents all their points of view (Griffith 99). The most part is a case study of Nicholas County in relation to globalization. Furthermore, the author uses quantitative data to compare Nicholas County with other parts of the world.
Content Analysis
When is the future of a specific rural community linked to a particular agricultural product that a lot of people wish could be abolished instead? What would be the reason for anyone away from Kentucky to care? Tobacco Town Futures was birthed due to Kingsolver considering a like issue. She argues that one should care because the restructuring of trade and industry of global neoliberal capitalism is a product of privatization, free trade, and deregulation. Consequently, the lives of the people of Nicholas County and the rest from all over the world are linked. Following her research in Nicholas County, Kingsolver learned that the transformations were related to a more extensive pattern that influenced job movements around the globe that was associated with a historical system (Kingsolver 8).
Concerning the Tobacco Towns Futures, it is in regard to more than the fate of the local tobacco producers. A number of agricultural homesteads in Nicholas County have depended mainly on employment away from the farm. For instance, for several years, a textile factory served as the major employer in the county. Multiple hundreds of employees, primarily women, were rendered jobless after the mill mentioned above was shut down in 2004. To make things even worse for the people of Nicholas County, Kentucky, the assembly facility, Toyota’s Georgetown, debuted in 1988. Without a doubt, rural life is growing more and more significant throughout the US, and Nicholas County is no exception.
Furthermore, following their closeness to three major town centers, Cincinnati, Lexington, and Louisville, the citizens of Nicholas County have become aware of the financial and symbolic value of their architecture, craft talents, and landscape. The author emphasizes economic growth attempts in the tourism, Toyota, and textile industries as instances of how private and public companies can work collaboratively to enhance the economy (Griffith 100). For learners, Kingsolver’s chapter on Development Plans entails considerable knowledge to evaluate, such as NAFTA’s influence, rural industrialization, and industrial restructuring, as well as tourism and the service industry as employment sources.
Despite the growth location of a reader, the part on “How to Live in a Small Town” (Kingsolver 23) talks about the competencies res, sources, and not shortages linked with living in a small town (Stull 142). The final chapter, “Tobacco Town Futures,” evaluates the possibilities for the agricultural economy of Nicholas County after the initiation of the abolishment of government tobacco initiatives and the following new free market. At a time when ranchers, farmers, and the societies that feed them and consequently rely on their industry in America encounter serious challenges, the above people’s illustration of possible futures provides examples of possible futures.
By virtue of the young residents of Nicholas County, Tobacco Town Futures is donating every one of its royalties to the local learning institutions. In 2010, Kingsolver organized an essay competition for students in the seventh to ninth grades. As Kingsolver says, the postscripts entail the winning essays, enabling the winners to have the last say.
Discussion and Conclusion
Tobacco Towns Future is partly a confessional story and partly a critical story. All the students starting cultural anthropology in Nicholas County are the main viewers of Kingsolver. While some readers may be more intrigued with specific information and names, others may be more interested in anthropological concepts (Kingsolver 23). Personal stories and humorous accounts fill the entire article. Kingsolver is an excellent storyteller. However, her recommendable effort to write for both anthropology learners and her research participants is futile since she assumes that every reader possesses adequate local information.
In addition, Nicholas County and Carlisle would have been better represented on a regional map that indicated the location of Carlisle relative to other counties, cities, waterways, and highways in the text. Currently, there is only a single map of Nicholas County, Kentucky, including a state map. Despite Kingsolver’s poetic style, the reader is bounded by run-on sentences. For instance, “lease agreements and labor exchanges tie neighbors together like baling wire” (Kingsolver 7). Furthermore, a lot is happening in the first chapter that is somehow disjointed, jumping from one point to another regarding globalization. I would have loved it even more if the author could have taken a step back to introduce Nicholas County and its place prior to linking the area and its residents to globalization. Additionally, some parts of Kingsolver’s speech were challenging to follow, even for an individual who grew up in another part of Kentucky but was informed of her work and the state (Stull 142). One example of how stricter editing would have enhanced the text is the misuse of the phrase “for example,” which appeared several times in one word.
Regardless of the above objections, I firmly believe that the text and the author are convincing. The author skillfully uses data to indicate the trends in the agricultural economy of Nicholas County. Besides, I think that readers from any background and interests will gain from Tobacco Town Futures. The text provides a clearer image of suburb life under change, fresh ways for readers to pursue, and new standards against which to evaluate their futures. The student questions given after every chapter are advantageous in the above regard. From the text, I have learned that although my culture or residence may not be transforming, it may be affected by changes from other parts of the globe because all places worldwide are somehow interconnected. In other terms, I have learned about the relationship between my culture and other locations globally.
The text has reinforced my belief that human beings tend to be comfortable and over-reliant on one source of income as long as they are comfortable. For instance, for many years, people in Kentucky relied on the Jockey for jobs, and when the plant closed, many were rendered jobless with no source of extra income. Additionally, even though residents of Nicholas County have an opportunity to pursue multiple agricultural practices, they are comfortable mainly producing tobacco since the little money they accrue satisfies their needs. Ann Kingsolver is an anthropologist who has significantly contributed to anthropological theory by dedicating herself to a prolonged survey among her allies, neighbors, and family. She expounds on the contribution mentioned above by offering extra insights into a more vivid comprehension of her society, both for them and everyone.
References
Griffith, David. “Tobacco Town Futures: Global Encounters in Rural Kentucky by Ann Kingsolver. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2011. Tobacco Capitalism: Growers, Migrant Workers, and the Changing Face of a Global Industry by Peter Benson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.” (2013): 99-103.
Kingsolver, Ann E. Tobacco town futures: Global encounters in rural Kentucky. Waveland Press, 2010.
Stull, Donald D. “Tobacco Town Futures: Global Encounters in Rural Kentucky by Ann E. Kingsolver. 2011. Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press.” (2011): 141-142.
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Question 
Tobacco Town Futures Ethnography
Assignment: The assignment for your paper is to write a book report on the ethnograph Tobacco Town Future by Ann Kingsolver. Your essay should be structured in the manner outlined below. If you believe Dr. Kingsolver has not addressed one of the areas listed, you need to state that explicitly.
I. Introduction: a clear statement of the central theme, focus, issue, or problem the ethnographer investigated.
II. Methods: describe the methods the ethnographer used to collect data (e.g., interview, participant- observation) and the techniques (e.g., statistical, case study) used to analyze the data.:
III. Body of paper (about two-thirds of the report):
• Provide a chapter-by-chapter survey of the contents of the ethnography and evaluate how well it
supports the stated goal(s) of the ethnography.
• Discuss essential issues of the ethnography and attempt to relate them (whenever possible) to
what you have learned from the lectures, videos, or assigned texts and web readings.
IV. Discussion and Conclusion:
• What is the theoretical perspective of the ethnography,r and how does it color her analysis of the
data?
• Is the ethnographer convincing? This means that the methods and data are adequate for dealing with the
research problems.
• Does the author attempt to generalize the findings through the use of the comparative method?
• How did the ethnography help you understand more deeply something about your own culture?
• How did the ethnography reinforce or undermine any of your assumptions about human
behavior?