Who We Are Is Where We Are: Making Home in the American Rust Belt

by Amanda McMillan Lequieu

Half a century ago, deindustrialization gutted blue-collar jobs in the American Midwest. But today, these places are not ghost towns. People still call these communities home, even as they struggle with unemployment, poverty, and other social and economic crises. Why do people remain in declining areas through difficult circumstances? What do their choices tell us about rootedness in a time of flux?Through the cases of the former steel manufacturing hub of southeast Chicago and a shuttered mining community in Iron County, Wisconsin, Amanda McMillan Lequieu traces the power and shifting meanings of the notion of home for people who live in troubled places. Building from on-the-ground observations of community life, archival research, and interviews with long-term residents, she shows how inhabitants of deindustrialized communities balance material constraints with deeply felt identities. McMillan Lequieu maps how the concept of home has been constructed and the ways it has been reshaped as these communities have changed. She considers how long-term residents navigate the tensions around belonging and making ends meet long after the departure of their community’s founding industry.Who We Are Is Where We Are links the past and the present, rural and urban, to shed new light on life in postindustrial communities. Beyond a story of Midwestern deindustrialization, this timely book provides broader insight into the capacious idea of home—how and where it is made, threatened, and renegotiated in a world fraught with change.

384 pages, Paperback

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in the rust belt, and I made the decision to leave for better opportunities elsewhere. But I've often struggled with that decision, wondering what I lost by not staying in the place that will always feel like home.

Dr. McMillan Lequieu approaches this conundrum with an openmindedness that truly honors the people who did stay and did the work to maintain a home in the place where they live, even after their central industry moved out.

The question "Why did you stay?" is often asked with a sense of judgment, but it's a question McMillan Lequieu asks her study subjects with kindness and grace. Their answers lead to a book that's a beautiful look at communities who are often misunderstood and discounted.