Welcome

For Website Ashwood Headshot

My name is Loka Ashwood. I am a sociologist at the University of Kentucky. My work develops action-centered methodologies that help frontline communities overcome environmental injustices and strengthen democracy.

Empty Fields, Empty Promises

I joined with four co-authors to write Empty Fields, Empty Promises: A State-by-State Guide to Transforming and Understanding the Right to Farm. The book is available for free online and interactive, state specific summaries of Right-to-Farm laws can be found on the One Rural Website.

To learn more about me and my work, you can visit the About Me and Publications pages.

For-Profit Democracy

My book poses a question: “Why is government distrust rampant, especially in the rural United States?” I offer a simple explanation: when corporations and the government together dispossess rural people of their prosperity, and even their property, animosity toward the state rules.

You can find out more by visiting my For-Profit Democracy page and checking out the Publishers Weekly review. 

Recent Releases