For many years I have studied the history of rural North America. Geographically, my work focuses on rural southern Illinois and the lower Mississippi Valley -- the region included within the political definition of the "Mississippi Delta". I concentrate on the economic, social, and political processes through which people transform their lives.
Much of my work deals with rural women, rural class relations, and social movements. I have written three books and numerous articles based in this work.
My research has fallen into four relatively discrete, but overlapping, projects: 1) The study of Union County in deep Southern Illinois, begun in 1982; 2) A multidisciplinary project studying watershed planning in the Cache River Watershed, in Southern Illinois; 3) a series of photographic essays on the rural landscape; and 4) a long-term project focused on the way that white people in the lower Mississippi Delta made sense of and decisions about the profound transformations of the post-World War II era.
I collaborate with my husband, photographer D. Gorton, as we develop methods to use the new digital media in our research and presentation of our findings in videos, web sites, presentations, and exhibits.
I also have an enduring interest in Latin America. During my master's program I conducted field and archival research in Amazonian Ecuador. I have collaborated with the founding director of the Central Master's Degree Program in Central America, Dra. Margarita Bolanos, at the University of Costa Rica, San Jose.
I also have a long-term interest in the history of anthropology.
