Appalachian Studies Commons^™

Flood Resiliency Planning: Historical Analysis And Youth Participation In Monongalia County, Wv, Josephine Q. Kemp-Rye, Jack P. Van Dusen, Kennedy Lawson

Undergraduate Scholarship

Flooding is a prevalent threat to community wellbeing, particularly in West Virginia where the mountainous topography and narrow valleys create perfect conditions for flood water to accumulate. To more deeply understand how hazards, such as flood events, become disastrous, we must consider not only the environmental/physical aspects, but also political, economic, and social dimensions. Thinking holistically about flood vulnerability acknowledges the influence of economic positioning, inadequate policies, industrial legacies, etc. which result in varied vulnerabilities to hazards within communities. The insights, knowledge, and experiences of local individuals and communities remain absent from domain top-down approaches to flood preparation. In an …

Title Panel And Map, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Land, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Landscape, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Home, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Property, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Landless, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Legacy, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Campus, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Place, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgements, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Resources, Amy J. Hirshman, Madison Mccormick, Riley Bowers, Bonnie M. Brown

Hidden No More: The Enduring Impact of Native American and Enslaved People on the Evansdale Neighborhood and WVU Campus

No abstract provided.

Source Credibility And Trust Of Media Information Based On Gender Of Reporter, Madison R. Urse

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

An experiment was used for this study to explore if the gender of a reporter impacts perceived source credibility and thus trust in information. Previous research has shown how gender biases can affect how topics are covered, reported on, perceived and marketed in the journalistic world. Modern media and newsrooms are meant to mirror reality as they convey information to the public, yet women continue to be gatekept out of reporting on certain types of news. Further, changes in the mode of delivery of news are also impacting the journalism landscape. Thus, this study employed a digital stimulus to explore …

Empowering Elderpreneurs Scommerce For Genx Consignment Store Owners In West Virginia, Joyita Sarkar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, this research explores Generation X (GenX) consignment store owners in West Virginia and the transformative power of Social commerce (sCommerce). Despite the ubiquity of Social media platforms, little attention has been given to the impact of sCommerce on the consignment store industry. Drawing from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT), this study examines the factors influencing sCommerce adoption decisions for GenX consignment store owners.

Through qualitative research, this study uncovers untold stories within this entrepreneurial landscape. Purposeful sampling of 11 women and 20-60 minutes of in-depth interviews reveal the …

The Appalachian Medical Student Experience: A Case Study, Jason Scott Hedrick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The Appalachian region is a rural swath of mountainous terrain home to a historically distinct culture. The region’s population suffers from a multitude of health issues and disparities. Notably, the region also experiences a major healthcare provider shortage despite the fact that states, like West Virginia, produce per capita, a high volume of physicians. Appalachia, and particularly West Virginia, also suffers from a number of educational disparities, which culminates into low numbers of college graduates within the population. There is a plethora of research that has explored the first-generation college student, students from rural and Appalachian backgrounds, first-generation and rural …

A Damn Short Prayer, Beth Jane Toren

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This poster presents a transcript poem created with murder tales in oral history recordings. Leveraging the creative arts of storytelling, transcript poetry and visual orality, the poster brings light and music to Appalachian storyteller voices in tales of shady murders.

The handout presents the poem with visual orality methods juxtaposed beside Standard English orthographic transcription, enabling a visual comparison, a link a video with graphic text and the original voice recordings, and brief readings about concepts and methods.

Making A Dent, Emily Morwood

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

West Virginia’s opioid-related death rates have surpassed any other state since 2014, with projections that it will continue to do so. With the epidemic, largely negative and stereotypical accusations have come, which have led to “othering,” or the concept of making groups ‘other’ due to their differences. This documentary project’s purpose is to address those that have been put in those othered groups through the concept of Standpoint Theory, which argues that insiders to a situation should tell their stories, rather than outsiders. The project aimed to allow the participants to tell their perspectives on the epidemic as insiders in …

Resilience In The Mountains: Exploring The Labor And Motives Of Food-Caregiver Women Repairing Broken Food Systems In West Virginia Communities, Heidi Lynn Gum

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Over the past four years the Food Justice Lab, now housed within the Center for Resilient Communities at West Virginia University, hosted a series of food access planning workshops across the state of West Virginia. Mobilizing more than 200 participants, the Nourishing Networks workshop training program was designed to build grassroots capacity for food system change. Eighty-percent of workshop participants were women and dialogues recorded at these events revealed how women are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and disproportionately labor to repair a broken food system. Women in West Virginia are not only growing food, feeding their families, selling it …

Future Of Appalachian Culture, Emily Hilliard, Travis Stimeling, Michael Kline, Carrie Kline, Trevor Mckenzie, Nancy Abrams, Torey Siebart, Chris Haddox, Mehmet Oztan, West Virginia University Press

Exhibit Panels

Appalachia is often associated with its traditional arts and culture, but that does not mean that we are stuck in the past. Local traditions often play a crucial role in galvanizing forward-thinking cultural institutions, involving artists and workers alike in making new futures that are still distinctively Appalachian. This section of the exhibit highlights this kind of work from the West Virginia Humanities Council, Arthurdale Heritage, and more, connecting to a traditional past to new traditions yet to be forged.

Speculative Futures And Futurism In Appalachia, Liz Pavlovic, Jamie Banks, Nicholas D. Bowman, David Smith, Baaria Chaudhary, Ben Babbitt, Jake Elliott, Tamas Kemenczy, Daniel Boyd, West Virginia University Press

Exhibit Panels

What if we thought of Appalachia as futuristic? Could the mountains be the setting for imagining better, maybe weirder, futures? Artists, writers, and game designers have been asking just those questions, speculating through science fiction, fantasy, and magic realism to rethink the ways cultural traditions in wildly creative ways. From folktales to videogames, cryptozoology to underground highways, this section asks what a future Appalachian utopia (or dystopia) might look and feel like?

West Virginia Waterscapes: Surface And Mineral Owners’ Perspectives On Groundwater Contamination Due To Natural Gas Extraction, Bethani Turley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

In the past decade, northwest West Virginia has experienced increasing natural gas extraction from the Marcellus shale. Because water usage for natural gas extraction is high and increasing, there has been a proliferation of concerns about gas extraction’s impacts on surface and groundwaters, especially how hydraulic fracturing and drilling impacts residents’ access to safe household well water. This issue is particularly salient in rural West Virginia, where many residents rely on groundwater wells for household uses. This thesis, based on 30 in-depth interviews with surface and mineral owners, explores resident perspectives and lived experience of natural gas extraction’s impacts on …

Building Eden, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Ralph Deigh is the most famous vernacular American architect you've never heard of. After a military career spanning two wars and struggles with homelessness and PTSD, he is invited to design an entirely new rural community for the 21st century. Twin disasters (fire and flood) in Dare County, West Virginia, set up the circumstances for him to join with Rosemary Mueller and the wealthy Ohio-based Mueller Foundation and a mysterious group of local Dare County residents led by Adam Sennett, County Clerk of Dare County. Together, they design and build the new town of Eden, West Virginia.

The whole story …

Lyda Judson Hanifan, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Lyda J. Hanifan was one of the original staff members of the West Virginia Department of Education, and internationally celebrated as the first author to formulate the concept of social capital.

Why Didn't The Dogs Bark?, Roger A. Lohmann, Shirley Stewart Burns

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study examines patterns of news coverage of five West Virginia mining disasters in local, regional and national news media. It grew out of an effort to follow up an earlier study of relief efforts at the Monongah mine disaster of 1907. One of the principal findings is that local newspapers consistently provided limited coverage of mining disasters and almost no coverage of relief efforts carried on in the wake of disasters. National coverage, by the New York Times and regional coverage by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reveals a number of persistent themes and some important differences.

The Monongah Mines Disaster Relief Committee, Roger A. Lohmann, Craig Johnson

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Allen Eaton And The Department Of Art And Social Work: Social Work In The Appalachian Arts And Crafts Movement1, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper explores a singular chapter in Social Work, Appalachia and

American culture. Like many other aspects of Appalachian culture and politics, it is

primarily a tale of extended effort for what proved to be a lost cause. Like many

other chapters in the history of the social work profession, it is a tale of a bright

beginning and insufficient follow-through. It is an optimistic narrative of expected

and unanticipated consequences that have proven to be beneficial for the culture

and economy of the region. It is also a deeply political narrative, if only because it is

dramatically at variance …

Four Perspectives On Appalachian Culture And Poverty, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Poverty is as closely associated with the Appalachian region as coal mining and the hammer dulcimer. Appalachian poverty has seldom been portrayed simply as poverty, but as the expression and symbol of something larger. Images of poverty - poorly dressed, sooty, emaciated, barefooted, mostly white, rural children and adults beside cabin porches - are as closely associated with Appalachia as cowboy hats with the West or moss-covered trees and white-columned mansions with the Old South.