The Negative Affect of an Appalachian Dialect

In this Autoethnography, the author tells a personal narrative about how growing up in rural Appalachia shaped her personal growth and identity. She draws from personal experiences and her struggles with having an Appalachian accent in a professional world. In researching for this work, the author draws on scholarship on Appalachian stereotypes (Massey 2007), the Appalachian Dialect (Mehring 2006), the tragic disappearance of the Appalachian identity (Grenoble 2012). This Autoethnography highlights personal experiences with negative stereotypes in Appalachia, and adds to the growing field of study on Appalachian identity