Migration trends in the Kansas Ogallala region and the internal colonial dependency model

Abstract

The High Plains of the United States has been portrayed both as a place of despair and a region of renaissance. This study proposes that, within the Ogallala Aquifer portion of the High Plains, landscapes of decline and renaissance co-exist within the context of an internal colonial dependency model. While the notion of internal colonial dependency has been applied primarily to the central Appalachian region, an assessment of population change in the High Plains of western Kansas suggests some striking similarities with the population change expected in a region conforming to the internal colonial dependency metaphor. This study identifies a wide range of colonial dependent characteristics, as they apply to the High Plains, with a focus on migration. Demographic changes supporting a colonial influence include long-term population decline in most counties, high median age, high levels of channelized out-migration, even higher levels of channelized in-migration, in-migration flow origins that are concentrated in just four other Ogallala states, and a continued long-term trend of exporting the region's most educated inhabitants.