New Publication!
Check out the first publication from my Northern New Mexico research!
Montañez, Morgan. 2024. “Nowhere Else to Go” Housing Insecurity in a Hispanic-Majority, Rural County During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Rural Sociology. Accepted. DOI:10.1111/ruso.12529
Available open access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ruso.12529?af=R
Current Projects
Book: Inaccessible: How Structural Inequalities, Isolation, and Neglect Impacted a Rural Minority-Majority County in Northern New Mexico.
Overview: Inaccessible illustrates the impact of structural inequality, isolation, and neglect on Taos County New Mexico in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This work explores the ways in which structural inequalities work against a racialized minority, impacting this community’s ability to react to modern threats. From gentrification to COVID-19, this work highlights the ways in which the Hispanic and Latine people in Taos County, New Mexico are being displaced while a growing and wealthier white community grapples with the barriers to accessibility—to healthcare, food, internet, aid programs— that people who consider the Sangre de Christos as ancestral land say is just a way of life. Additionally, this research presents a strong challenge to existing ideas around rural disaster preparedness, examining an over reliance on social capital while focusing on the real impact that a lack of infrastructure has during a disaster. Zeroing in on access to aid programs, healthcare, information, and transportation this research tells the story of a community severely underserved in numerous ways.
Paper: “Moral Capital and Racism: How Moral Capital Functions as a Tool of Oppression in a Rural Minority-Majority Community”
Overview: Presented at RSS in 2023, is under revision for submission. Some areas of rural northern New Mexico have undergone dramatic demographic shifts over the last decade as wealthy, mostly white, retirees flock to towns like Taos for their breathtaking views, recreational activities, and rich culture. As this demographic shift occurred, however, it created conflict between the existing Hispanic/Latine population and these newcomers. Specifically, white newcomers often have very little knowledge of the unique ethnic groups present in their new home and due to social and cultural differences very rarely socialize with their new neighbors. This paper explores the role that moral capital plays in in this conflict as Hispanic/Latine members of the community are forced to overcome common stereotypes held about members of their ethnic group that white Americans don’t always understand as problematic in order to prove that they are “good ones” and partake as equal members of their community. Using data from 6 months of participant observation and 58 in-depth interviews, this paper explores the role that moral capital plays in overcoming racism for Hispanic/Latine members of this community. Additionally, this paper illustrates how widely shared stereotypes and racism are harmful to Latine/Hispanic communities—impacting their ability to access aid, gain employment, and fully participate in their cultural traditions. Thus this paper analyzes the impact of acceptance of racist stereotypes about the Latine/Hispanic people and to the ways in which identity can be performatively overcome by through use of moral capital.
Paper: Environmentally Sustainable Beer? Perceptions of Sustainability for Hop Growers and Brewers in the Pacific Northwest.
Overview: As a changing climate increases awareness within industries about the importance of environmental sustainability, there remains a gap between what those who grow ingredients and those who produce products view as goals for sustainable achievements. This research explores how perceptions of sustainability differ between hop growers and brewers—and how these disconnections in perception create barriers to adoption of sustainable practices. Both growers and brewers had significant confusion about what environmental sustainability meant, lamenting a lack of standards or certifications that actively define what they view as a moving target. This study finds that a lack of consensus in what environmental sustainability means led to a lack of support for grower practices from brewers, thus disincentivizing adoption of practices due to no or limited economic benefit. Findings did show that certification of sustainable practices could result in increased buy in. For example certified practices such as Salmon Safe led to grower efforts that were economically valued by brewers who sought to use the label on beers. Further, brewers emphasis on economically beneficial sustainable practices meant a lack of emphasis on sustainably grown ingredients due to fears of inferior taste. Therefore, the emphasis rests on securing cost effective ingredients that taste good, not necessarily emphasis on hops grown utilizes practices considered to be environmentally sustainable for hop yards— thus creating a disconnect that leads to growers producing a product unsellable in foreign markets. Ultimately, this study illustrates that a lack of consensus hurts growers abilities to adopt new practices as the economic return fails to support the capital required to invest in many of the technologies or other practices that are necessary in the face of both a changing environment and regulatory climate.
Other Working Papers:
Montañez, Morgan. 2023. “Losing Community During a Pandemic. Weakened Social Capital and Barriers to Getting by In a Rural, Hispanic Majority Community” Presented at RSS in 2022.
Montañez, Morgan. 2023. “”We don’t have choices”: Sustainability, Power, and Change in Pacific Northwest Brewing.” In development for submission.