Structural violence and the industrial landscape

Abstract

Paul A. Shackel*aa Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USAPaul A. Shackel is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. His research projects focus on the role of archaeology in civic engagement activities related to race and labor. His recent books include: New Philadelphia: An Archaeology of Race in the Heartland (2011), and a coauthored volume with Barbara Little - Archaeology, Heritage and Civic Engagement: Working toward the Public Good (2014). He is currently engaged in a project that focuses on labor and migration in northern Appalachia in the United States and is the subject of Remembering Lattimer: Migration, Labor, and Race in Pennsylvania Anthracite Country (2018).CONTACT Paul A. Shackel pshackel@umd.edu Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.ABSTRACTIn the late nineteenth century, a new wave of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe came to the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania. A form of structural violence existed, and as a result the newcomers were underpaid, underfed, worked in treacherous conditions, and lived in substandard housing. Today, coal extraction in the region is almost non-existent, although many industrial ruins and abandoned homes can be found throughout the landscape. While these ruins can highlight the grandeur of capitalism, a more pressing need is to understand how these ruins are reminders of the long-term exploitation of the working class and the implications of this exploitation for the contemporary community’s general health and well-being.

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