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Rubie Watson is a social anthropologist, now retired. She received her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University. She is author of "Inequality among Brothers: Class and Kinship in South China" and has co-authored and edited books on Chinese society and culture. Rubie is the former Director of Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology. Currently, she is writing a book tentatively entitled "The Closers: Institutional Collapse in the Rural Midwest." She grew up on a small Illinois farm and now lives in Iowa City and rural Illinois.

The U.S., China, and many other countries are experiencing significant rural depopulation. Recent changes in demographic trends will be discussed as well as consequences of depopulation on rural society and culture.

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