Often, migrants relocate because of acute disruption: war, disaster, or persecution. Slower forms of violence, however, can lead to lifestyle migration, at once a response to nostalgia and an unsatisfying present. Some young urbanites in Bulgaria seek new possibilities in heavily depopulated rural settings. While rural revitalization is generally…

Displacement was part of students' realities--gentrification in North Lawndale (a Chicago community), deportation in Little Village, and foreclosures in both. The author started the unit in his 12th-grade "math for social justice" class by telling the story (with family permission) of Carmen, a student in his class. Her grandmother paid…

This case study of Wakayama Prefecture focuses on the postwar Japanese government's efforts to facilitate administration of rural areas via "town-making." School consolidation is among the means used to fabricate a new sense of social cohesion from a patchwork of depopulated and aging villages. The goal is to promote a national modern…