Graduation Year
Spring 2014
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Edward Haley
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Rights Information
© 2014 Noah Jay
Abstract
Rural poverty has been characterized as invisible. This has been true since Michael Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. Building upon this characterization this thesis explores six pathways out of rural poverty in relation to the particular quality of invisibility. This study reviews scholarly literature and federal policy, as well as adds new interviews focused on a case study of Mecca and Thermal, two small, unincorporated communities in California’s Eastern Coachella Valley (ECV). Through these techniques I found that rural poverty is characterized by a unique invisibility and that although there are certain pathways out of this poverty, these pathways are unlikely, temporary, and too insubstantial to make significant change.
Recommended Citation
Jay, Noah, "Illuminating Rural Poverty: Invisible Communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley" (2014). CMC Senior Theses. 910.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/910
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.