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Articles 1 - 18 of 18
Full-Text Articles in Appalachian Studies
"Not Just Whites In Appalachia": The Black Appalachian Commission, Regional Black Power Politics, And The War On Poverty, 1965-1975, Jillean Mccommons
"Not Just Whites In Appalachia": The Black Appalachian Commission, Regional Black Power Politics, And The War On Poverty, 1965-1975, Jillean Mccommons
Theses and Dissertations--History
During the Black Power era of the late 1960s and 1970s, Black activists in Appalachia used the opening of the War on Poverty to wage a regional war against institutional and environmental racism. Through the Black Appalachian Commission, a grassroots organization created in 1969, Black activists worked to expose racism in local and federal policy as the root cause of poverty for Black Appalachians, who they argued were the poorest in the region. Their outward self-definition as Black and Appalachian was a political strategy to garner power over resources earmarked for Appalachians. The term “Black Appalachian'' was more than a …
Ambiguous Appalachianness: A Linguistic And Perceptual Investigation Into Arc-Labeled Pennsylvania Counties, Crissandra J. George
Ambiguous Appalachianness: A Linguistic And Perceptual Investigation Into Arc-Labeled Pennsylvania Counties, Crissandra J. George
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
The Appalachian Regional Commission (2022) designates 52 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties as Appalachia, excluding only the southeast portion of the state. Matthew Ferrence, in Appalachia North, states that his "home is sometimes called Appalachia, sometimes Rust Belt, other times Midwest, even though very few who live there would accept any of those labels as correct" (xi). This ambiguous and fluid identity is due to the shaping, forming, and changing of Pennsylvania’s role within society from a founding colony to a thriving state with industry, unselfishly spoiling others, to the grounds of converging identities (Ferrence xi). This ambiguous identity makes …
Producing Possibilities: Envisioning And Mediating Youth, Identities, And Futures In Central Appalachia, Tammy Lynn Clemons
Producing Possibilities: Envisioning And Mediating Youth, Identities, And Futures In Central Appalachia, Tammy Lynn Clemons
Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology
This dissertation, based on anthropological research between 2015 and 2020, focuses on young people in different yet interconnected social contexts in Central Appalachia and how they envision, construct, and act upon possibilities for themselves and the region through multimodal cultural production processes like visual art, performance, and multisensory media. The research question focusing this project was: How do the social contexts of young Appalachians’ engagement in media consumption and production practices shape the possibilities they envision for themselves, others, and their region? I found that the specific contexts were less important than the interconnected mentoring conversations across sites and generations …
Almost Heaven: Religious Arguments In Appalachian Extractive Fiction, Darby Lane Campbell
Almost Heaven: Religious Arguments In Appalachian Extractive Fiction, Darby Lane Campbell
Theses and Dissertations--English
Appalachia is a national sacrifice zone that hosts extractive industries directly responsible for many social problems in the region, however, many attribute these issues to the moral failings of Appalachians themselves. Activism in the area is heavily focused on opposing both extraction and the negative perceptions which contribute to its domination. One way this activism is conducted is through extractive fiction—novels which expose the destruction caused by extractive industries. Appalachian extractive fiction utilizes religion and spirituality to argue against extraction. This research examines how fiction can be an effective mode of activism and how the use of Christian arguments in …
Perceptions Of Rural Middle School Band Directors Regarding Student Recruitment Strategies: An Instrumental Multiple Case Study, Kaitlin Callihan
Perceptions Of Rural Middle School Band Directors Regarding Student Recruitment Strategies: An Instrumental Multiple Case Study, Kaitlin Callihan
Theses and Dissertations--Music
The purpose of this instrumental multiple case study was to learn about middle school band directors’ perceptions of successful recruitment strategies. Specific areas of focus included insight on why middle school children choose band, successful recruitment activities/events, involvement of directors in the recruitment process, and advice for support in situations where an individual may be the only band director in the district. Six participants, two from Kentucky, two from West Virginia, and two from Virginia, were selected using purposive sampling criterion. Criterion for selecting participants at the time of the study were: (a) they were middle school band directors, (b) …
A Fat Imposter: The Embodied Intersection Between Race, Body Type And Fatness In Margaret Cho’S Comedy, Julia Cox
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
Margaret Cho is a comedic goddess who, in her mockery, serves flaming hot social commentary about race, body image, and fatness. Within this thesis, I used critical discourse analysis to understand how Margaret Cho embodies Asianness, whiteness, and the body types and images prescribed respectively. While working on data analysis, I came across a common media trope of fat women: the use of indexically Southern (United States), Appalachian, and Working class indexicals in speech and lexical items. I connected the ideologies surrounding Southern and Appalachian language to the inequalities that fat women face. This voicing had not previously been written …
The Mothman And Other Strange Tales: Shaping Queer Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse In Online Social Media Communities, Brenton Watts
The Mothman And Other Strange Tales: Shaping Queer Appalachia Through Folkloric Discourse In Online Social Media Communities, Brenton Watts
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
Little work has been conducted on the intersections of queer and Appalachian identities, in part because these two identities are viewed as incompatible (Mann 2016). This study uses a multimodal critical discourse analytic approach to examine the Instagram posts of the Queer Appalachia Project, which represent a substantial body of discourse created by and for queer Appalachians. Of specific interest to this analysis are those posts which employ folkloric figures, such as West Virginia’s Mothman, to do identity work that is queer, Appalachian, and queer-Appalachian. Often, this act is accomplished through juxtaposition with Appalachian imagery and the reclamation of homophobic …
Consuming Appalachia: An Archaeology Of Company Coal Towns, Zada Komara
Consuming Appalachia: An Archaeology Of Company Coal Towns, Zada Komara
Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology
Material culture is an understudied aspect of social life in Appalachian Studies, the multi- disciplinary investigation of social life in the Appalachian region. Historically, material culture in the region has been largely studied for its semiotic properties, decoded as a tangible symbol of “a region apart,” lagging behind the rest of America in terms of moral, mental, economic, and social development. Critical material studies from archaeology and other disciplines paint a different picture, however, and construct a region as American as any other. This study utilizes discourse analysis of material rhetoric about Appalachia and archaeological and oral historical data from …
Finding The Singing Spruce: Craft Labor, Global Forests, And Musical Instrument Makers In Appalachia, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth
Finding The Singing Spruce: Craft Labor, Global Forests, And Musical Instrument Makers In Appalachia, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth
Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology
Musical instrument makers in the state of West Virginia in the United States pursue “singing,” lively instruments that capture ideals of musical tone and “re-enchant” their work and lives through relationships with craft materials and the forest landscape. Suitable tonewoods that grow in the region, such as red spruce (Picea rubens), intersect with makers’ desires to craft instruments in the style of famed makers such as the C.F. Martin Company and the Gibson Company as well as provide instruments imbued with a sense of place. While the demand for and symbolic import of instruments made with local wood …
A Kentucky Pioneer In Music Therapy: An Oral History On The Life And Career Of Lorinda Jones, Emma Powers
A Kentucky Pioneer In Music Therapy: An Oral History On The Life And Career Of Lorinda Jones, Emma Powers
Theses and Dissertations--Music
Lorinda Jones, MT-BC, is the longest practicing music therapist in Kentucky. She began her work as a music therapist in 1995 and built a private practice, which expanded over the course of the next 20 years to include services in 16 counties. Ms. Jones’ perspective on the growth of music therapy, both within the state and nationwide, as well as her extensive knowledge of Appalachian folk music, makes her an invaluable resource to Kentucky music therapists. The purpose of this study was to present a historical account of the life and career of Lorinda Jones, to gain her perspective on …
Agricultural Livelihoods In Harlan County: A Case Study Approach Of Two Farms, Heather Kinney
Agricultural Livelihoods In Harlan County: A Case Study Approach Of Two Farms, Heather Kinney
Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development
This thesis explores agricultural livelihoods in Harlan County with two case studies in order to challenge dominant narratives about Eastern Kentucky. Harlan County, and Appalachia more broadly, is often written about in terms of its relationship to extractive industries. Absentee landownership in Appalachia has been well documented, especially in the case of coal counties. However, the relationship between extraction and agricultural livelihoods in Appalachia warrants more attention. The story of agricultural livelihoods in the region is often pushed to the periphery much like the practices of “hillside” farming. While geography makes much of the land unsuitable for farming in Harlan …
Unending Mazes: Gendered Inequalities, Drug Use, And State Interventions In Rural Appalachia, Lesly-Marie Buer
Unending Mazes: Gendered Inequalities, Drug Use, And State Interventions In Rural Appalachia, Lesly-Marie Buer
Theses and Dissertations--Anthropology
Prescription opioids are associated with rising rates of overdose deaths and hepatitis C and HIV infection in the US, including in rural Central Appalachia. Yet there is a dearth of published ethnographic research examining rural opioid use. The aim of this dissertation is to document the gendered inequalities that situate women’s encounters with substance abuse treatment as well as additional state interventions targeted at women who use drugs. These results are based on ethnographic fieldwork completed from 2013 to 2016 and centered around one county seat in rural Central Appalachia. Data are ascertained through semi-structured interviews with women who have …
Growing Economic Possibility In Appalachia: Stories Of Relocalization And Representation On Stinking Creek, Kathryn Engle
Growing Economic Possibility In Appalachia: Stories Of Relocalization And Representation On Stinking Creek, Kathryn Engle
Theses and Dissertations--Sociology
This project explores the agricultural heritage and current social landscape of the Stinking Creek community of Knox County, Kentucky, and the legacy of the local nonprofit organization the Lend-A-Hand Center. Through participatory research, this project presents a reflexive account of the Lend-A-Hand Center Grow Appalachia Gardening Program examining the diverse economy of the Stinking Creek watershed and possibilities for new economic imaginings and post-coal futures for central Appalachia. This dissertation includes an oral history project, a theoretical examination, and an ethnographic reflection, bridging several literatures in the fields of agricultural history, Appalachian Studies, Participatory Action Research, research within the diverse …
Missed Opportunities In The Mountains: The University Of Kentucky's Action Program In Eastern Kentucky In The 1960s, Bradley L. Goan
Missed Opportunities In The Mountains: The University Of Kentucky's Action Program In Eastern Kentucky In The 1960s, Bradley L. Goan
Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation
This dissertation explores the University of Kentucky’s efforts to develop and implement an “action program” in eastern Kentucky in the 1960s. By the late 1950s, Kentucky’s political, business, and academic leaders had identified eastern Kentucky as the state’s problem area, and they sought strategies to bring the region into the economic and cultural mainstream. This generation of post-war leaders had an uncompromising faith in the power of knowledge, technology, and planning, and University leaders saw their action program as a university-wide effort to address what most would argue was Kentucky’s ugliest problem. This study begins with an examination of the …
The Effects Of A New Method Of Instruction On The Perceptions Of Appalachian English, Michelle L. Compton
The Effects Of A New Method Of Instruction On The Perceptions Of Appalachian English, Michelle L. Compton
Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics
This paper evaluates whether students’ perceptions of Appalachian English improve through a method of instruction that uses dialect literature in the classroom. Most existing methods of instruction tend to portray dialects as wrong, incorrect, or in some way less rule-governed than Standardized English, despite the numerous studies that have demonstrated otherwise (e.g., Labov 1969, Wolfram 1986). The data from this study derives from two groups of students enrolled in introductory composition and communication at the University of Kentucky. Each group is given a pre-test to determine attitudes toward Appalachian English and Standardized English. An experimental group is then exposed to …
Zilphia Horton, A Voice For Change, Alicia R. Massie-Legg
Zilphia Horton, A Voice For Change, Alicia R. Massie-Legg
Theses and Dissertations--Music
This dissertation examines the role of Zilphia Horton (1910-1956) in helping to establish the use of music as a powerful tool to unify and train groups involved in social reform at seminars led by Highlander Folk School. In engaging in what has been termed the “mobilization of music,” Mrs. Horton was active in labor disputes, training seminars in the United States and Canada, and the formation of women’s union auxiliaries from 1935 until 1956. The study uses correspondence written by Horton to her husband, Myles Horton; business letters to labor union officials and contributors to songsters; and writings revealing her …
The Relationship Between Intercultural Communication Experience And College Persistence Among First Generation Appalachian Students, Meredith A. Garrison
The Relationship Between Intercultural Communication Experience And College Persistence Among First Generation Appalachian Students, Meredith A. Garrison
Theses and Dissertations--Communication
This study seeks to explore the relationship between intercultural communication experiences and college persistence in first-generation college students from the Central Appalachian region. Because Appalachia has a rich and unique culture, which is often misunderstood, the literature review seeks to establish a basis for studying this relationship as a way to understand the multi-dimensional nature of low-educational attainment in the Appalachian region, particularly Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Using a survey-based quantitative method this study examines Appalachian first generation students attending college as an intercultural communication process through the frame of acculturation theory. Specifically, the study seeks information …
The Socioeconomic Impact Of Coal In The Appalachian Region Of Kentucky, Laura Oxley
The Socioeconomic Impact Of Coal In The Appalachian Region Of Kentucky, Laura Oxley
MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects
The coal debate seems to be in a state of inertia. Proponents of coal claim the industry brings economic benefit to Kentucky. Environmentalists claim the industry creates irreparable harm to the Appalachian Mountain region. While these opinions are not unfounded, seldom do stakeholders explore the impact incurred directly in the Appalachian communities that mine coal. Moving the debate to a discussion about coal’s direct impact in the communities that support the industry may broaden stakeholders’ perspective. Determining whether the industry helps or harms the Appalachian community may be the break in the debate’s stalemate. Thus, this paper explores the socioeconomic …