Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes

Appalachia has long been stereotyped as a region of feuds, moonshine stills, mine wars, environmental destruction, joblessness, and hopelessness. Robert Schenkkan\u27s 1992 Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Kentucky Cycle once again adopted these stereotypes, recasting the American myth as a story of repeated failure and poverty—the failure of the American spirit and the poverty of the American soul. Dismayed by national critics\u27 lack of attention to the negative depictions of mountain people in the play, a group of Appalachian scholars rallied against the stereotypical representations of the region\u27s people. In Back Talk from Appalachia, these writers talk back to the American mainstream, confronting head-on those who view their home region one-dimensionally. The essays, written by historians, literary scholars, sociologists, creative writers, and activists, provide a variety of responses. Some examine the sources of Appalachian mythology in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. Others reveal personal experiences and examples of grassroots activism that confound and contradict accepted images of hillbillies. The volume ends with a series of critiques aimed directly at The Kentucky Cycle and similar contemporary works that highlight the sociological, political, and cultural assumptions about Appalachia fueling today\u27s false stereotypes. An exciting and provocative new collection. -- Appalachian Journal An important book. -- Arkansas Historical Quarterly Thought-provoking, admirably accessible to nonspecialist readers, and offers an excellent introduction to Appalachian regional studies. Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary and historic Appalachia, it is also a model regional study that provides an excellent comparative perspective for scholars and students of other American regions. -- Choice A challenge to \u27monolithic pejorative, and unquestioned\u27 images of Appalachia. -- Chronicle of Higher Education Social theory, history, literature, personal experience, and activism are successfully bound, and issues of race and gender are not neglected. . . . For scholars of the southern Appalachian region the volume is indispensable. -- Contemporary Sociology An interesting and diverse collection. -- Filson Club History Quarterly Presents a broad view of a region diverse in population, social issues, and history. -- Florida Historical Quarterly Addresses the origins and perpetuation of these disparaging stereotypes, and offers writers\u27 personal experiences growing up or living in Appalachia. -- Goldenseal Provides provocative and insightful essays about this much-maligned region of the United States. -- Kentucky Monthly One does come away with a better idea of why Appalachians are seen as they are. -- Lexington Herald-Leader Every subject is covered from AIDS to rednecks to labor activism to the coalfields to race and gender. -- Library Booknotes Addresses the origins of stereotypes of literature from the region, looks at labor and advocacy movements in Appalachia during this century, offers writers\u27 personal glimpses of growing up or living in the region, and ends by highlighting the stereotypes and broad generalizations that characterize \u27The Kentucky Cycle.\u27 -- McCormick (SC) Messenger A book that attempts to do a lot, and succeeds on the whole. -- Mountain Eagle Now we have this thought-provoking collection of essays of the country we northerners knew so little about. -- Oakland (MI) Press The essays, which share the goal of refuting the ongoing stereotyping of the region, are written from a variety of perspectives—anthropologists, sociologists, fiction writers, historians, health care activists, political scientists, to name a few. -- Ohioana Quarterly Poring through the book\u27s pages, readers, Appalachian readers especially, will experience a wide range of reactions—anger, humor and pride foremost among them. -- Paintsville Herald Containing essays written by some of the region’s leading scholars, activists, and artists—the list of contributors itself testifies to the creativity of the people in the region and to the contributions Appalachians have made to the nation. -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society These important, provocative essays are an outstanding contribution to Appalachian studies scholarship, but they are also quite accessible to non-specialists. -- Tennessee Librarian Gurney Norman was selected as Poet Laureate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_appalachian_studies/1027/thumbnail.jp

Shannon Bell\u27s Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed : Author meets Critics

In this session, Dr. Shannon Elizabeth Bell (a sociologist at the University of Kentucky) will discuss her new book, Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed: Appalachian Women and the Fight for Environmental Justice (University of Illinois Press, October 2013) with three readers: Vivian Stockman, Barbara Ellen Smith, and Heather Lukacs. Motivated by a deeply rooted sense of place and community, Appalachian women have long fought against the damaging effects of industrialization. In this collection of interviews, sociologist Shannon Elizabeth Bell presents the voices of twelve Central Appalachian women, environmental justice activists fighting against mountaintop removal mining and its devastating effects on public health, regional ecology, and community well-being. Each woman narrates her own personal story of injustice and tells how that experience led her to activism. The interviews -- a number of them illustrated by the women\u27s photostories -- describe obstacles, lawsuits, and tragedies. But they also tell of new communities and personal transformations catalyzed through activism. Ultimately, Bell argues that these women draw upon a broader protector identity that both encompasses and extends the identity of motherhood that has often been associated with grassroots women\u27s activism. As protectors, these women challenge dominant Appalachian gender expectations and guard not only their families, but also their homeplaces, their communities, their heritage, and the endangered mountains that surround them

Learning from the Past for a Sustainable Future in Appalachia: Celebrating the Career of Ron Eller

This roundtable will honor the career contributions of historian Ron Eller to Appalachian Studies. Ron Eller has mentored several generations of Appalachian historians, and has retired recently from the University of Kentucky. The roundtable will provide perspectives on his contributions to Appalachian Studies as an historian, environmentalist, and avid supporter of sustainable and just futures for Appalachian communities. He and his students have followed closely the federal Appalachian Regional Commission policies and community actions in the War on Poverty, long-term land use and effects of extractive industries, and stewardship and sustainability conversations in Appalachia. Several of his former students and colleagues will make brief remarks in the roundtable, some comments will be read from those who cannot be present (including Ron Lewis, Margaret Brown, and Maryjean Wall), and there will be an opportunity to share comments from among those gathered. Roundtable speakers will include Stephanie Lang, Thomas Kiffmeyer, Jason Howard, and Dwight Billings. Ann Kingsolver will moderate. Ron Eller will attend

Making the Path Together: Intersections of African American Studies, Women’s Studies, and Appalachian Studies.

Based on the recent publication of Studying Appalachian Studies: Making the Path by Walking, the following questions will guide the conversation: What do geographically-based fields such as Appalachian Studies have in common with identity-based fields such as Women’s Studies and African-American Studies? What do these fields have to teach and learn from each other? What roles do area studies fields such as these play in the academy? How do these interdisciplinary fields relate to traditional disciplines? In what ways are area studies not truly interdisciplinary? What are the contributions and limitations of area studies fields in relation to active movements for social change? To what extent are these fields relevant in an era of globalization and capital mobility? To what extent do Appalachian, African American, and Women’s studies programs challenge the tenets of higher education, or have they simply become a part of the formal academic landscape? How has postmodernism/poststructuralism affected theoretical constructs in area studies? What is the role of alternative research methods such as oral history or community-based participatory research in area studies? How best to combine creative vigor with scholarly rigor in area studies? In an era of campus corporatization is there a future for area studies, for their certificates and degrees, for their students and graduates