The exploitation of women and nature in Appalachia: An analysis of labor rights and environmental issues as presented by three Appalachian women writers

Environmental activism in Appalachia in recent years has focused on the harm that practices such as mountaintop removal mining, hydraulic fracturing, and deforestation contribute to the natural landscape of the Appalachian region. However, because of a history of outside industries exploiting Appalachia for its natural resources, writers in Appalachia have been grappling with the environmental and social effects of industrial development for centuries. Wilma Dykeman's 1962 novel The Tall Woman, Rebecca Harding Davis's 1861 novella Life in the Iron-Mills, and Florence Cope Bush's 1989 biography Dorie: Woman of the Mountains are three relatively unstudied Appalachian texts that wrestle with the economic and environmental changes facing Appalachia from the early days of the American Civil War to the mid-20th century. These texts more specifically show how marginalized populations such as women, immigrants, and the poor are disproportionately affected by decisions that are made about the environments in which they live---decisions often made by outsiders. As texts written by three Appalachian women, the works studied here offer perspectives on feminism and environmentalism that too often go unnoticed in both American literature and American history. In an acknowledgement of the marginalization of women and of the silencing of Appalachian voices overall, this thesis looks to ecofeminist theory and literary analysis in order to explore the connections between environmentally harmful practices, increases in women's labor, and the suppression of women's voices in outcry over social and environmental concerns. In addition, this thesis examines the ideological and economic reasons why labor exploitation and environmental degradation in the Appalachian Mountains are able to continue despite the far-reaching ecological and social consequences of such practices.