When Disinformation Makes Sense

Disinformation is often used to justify environmental injustices in Central Appalachia.

Was there really a war on coal?

Recent scholarship indicates that populist rhetoric can profoundly shape commonsense understandings of global energy crises. While scholars often depict rural, working-class communities as objects of right-wing disinformation, post-truths, and alternative facts, how rural communities interpret or experience populist narratives is far from adequately understood. 

My recent article published in Economic Anthropology examines coal industry recession in coal-producing areas of Appalachian Kentucky that contributed to ten thousand job losses since 2010. Amid the downturn, politicians and pro-coal lobby groups blamed the slump on an alleged “war on coal.” My research illustrates how neoliberal disinformation underpins war-on-coal narratives claiming that deregulating industry is the only way communities can save the industry and access economic well-being. 

Pro-coal lobby groups and politicians in Appalachian Kentucky blame industry recession on an alleged “war on coal.”

Drawing from qualitative interviews, participant observation, and discourse analysis, I explore how war-on-coal disinformation has become a commonsense explanation for many dealing with the coal industry recession. While findings suggest that the war on coal “makes sense” for many living in coal-mining communities, this does not indicate an indeterminate embrace of the industry or pro-coal rhetoric. Communities negotiate commonsense narratives against complicated relationships with the industry, the many dangers of mining, and the challenges coal poses for alternative economic futures.

Check out my full article in Economic Anthropology here.