Folklore Commons^™

All Roads Lead To Darrington: Building A Bluegrass Community In Western Washington, James W. Edgar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the mid-twentieth century, a significant pattern of migration occurred between Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest, with Washington’s thriving timber industry offering compelling economic opportunities. Many workers and families from western North Carolina settled in the small mountain town of Darrington, Washington, frequently accompanied by their banjos and guitars. As a group of young bluegrass enthusiasts from Seattle established relationships with Darrington’s “Tar Heel” musicians, a collaborative music community formed, laying the foundation for the region’s contemporary bluegrass scene.

Drawn from a series of ethnographic interviews, this project illuminates the development of a bluegrass community in western Washington, while identifying …

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 …

Home Sweet Home, Adam Black

Indian Head Rock Project

An article published in the Portsmouth Daily Times on September 22, 2020 on the relocation of Indian Head Rock to South Shore Rotary Park.

Wolf, Carol E. (Fa 1374), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1374. Student folk studies project titled: “Hazel Daniel’s Songbook,” which includes an alphabetical list of the songs in the collection including “found” and “unfound” songs, along with a bibliography and the lyrics to the “found” songs. Survey sheets may include the title of the song, lyrics and source. Daniel of Hartford, Kentucky and her nephew Larry Daniel collected songs from 1938 until 1948. The songs in this collection are a compilation of songs from student projects: FA 1262 BRADLEY, Peggy Louise, FA 1263 WILSON, Debbe Jean, and FA 1264 WELKER, Susan.

Western Kentucky University Archives Of Folklore And Folklife Manual (Fa 1373), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1373. Manual titled “Folk Speech Section of WKUAFF,” created to provide organization and conventions for the collection of student folk projects created by folk studies students for the WKU Archives of Folklore and Folklife or the Folklife Archives. The manual includes survey sheets with responses from a brief questionnaire about vocabulary, dialect, and linguistics across Kentucky. This collection also includes questionnaires from other student projects used to gather vocabulary about a particular subject, i.e. mules, quilting, folk songs, remedies, etc.

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.

Ecojustice, Religious Folklife And A Sound Ecology, Jeff Todd Titon

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Folk, traditional, and indigenous ecological knowledges have a significant role to play in ecojustice. A case study in the traditional ecological knowledge among one of the religious communities with whom I have spent several decades illustrates how they embody the main principle and three fields of an ecological rationality: the community of inter-related beings; the ways the beings participate in that community or place; and the relations of nature and the nonhuman world to humans and human nature. Ecological rationality stands in contrast to economic rationality, a branch of instrumental reason exemplified by what economists call rational choice theory. An …

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 …

Museum Proposal At Portsmouth, Richard Duncan

Indian Head Rock Project

A proposal to construct a museum for the Indian Head Rock in Portsmouth, Ohio. The letter was written on November 18, 2019 and the drawings created on November 1, 2019.

Mccartt-Jackson, Sarah, B. 1982 (Fa 1290), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1290. Student collection titled “’Clogging’s Just Clogging’: The Richard McHargue Cloggers and Approaches to Vernacular Percussive Dance Study” in which Sarah McCartt-Jackson conducts an interview with Richard McHargue, a clogging instructor from Richmond, Kentucky. The interview contains McHargue’s early dancing memories, clogging terms, and opinions about the contemporary state of clogging. The collection also contains a partial transcript, fieldnotes, interview questions, content index, photographs, and the recorded audio interview on CD.

Brown, Chloe Jo, B. 1991 (Fa 1289), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1289. Student collection titled “Dale Cross: The Art of Flintknapping” in which Chloe Brown examines the commercial, historical, and cultural factors that have influenced the production of arrowheads. Brown interviews Dale Cross, a flintknapper from Burkesville, Kentucky who is renowned for his artistic skills. The paper addresses Cross’ personal aesthetics, flintknapping processes, and his business-related endeavors. The collection includes an academic paper, a transcription, CDs containing the recorded audio interview and photographs, and one of Cross’ arrowheads.

Jameson, Jennifer Michelle, B. 1987 (Fa 1288), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1288. Student paper titled “Finding the Folkways of a Forensic Anthropomorphologist: The Kentucky Yard Art Of Cecil and Bet Ison” in which Jennifer Jameson explores the creative endeavors and identities of two folk artists in Rowan County, Kentucky. Jameson, who conducted her fieldwork over a period of two weeks, examines flower sculptures, upholstered trees, bottle cap murals, beadwork, and other vernacular expressions pieced together by the Isons in their built environment. The paper also discusses the relationships between the Isons and their community, personal aesthetics, educational backgrounds, and connections to broader cultural issues. …

Brennan, Mary Kate (Fa 1284), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1284. Student interview conducted by Mary Kate Brennan with renowned Appalachian poet Jim Wayne Miller. Brennan’s focus throughout the interview is on “the cultural sensitivity and awareness that permeates Miller’s poetry.” Miller also touches on what he considers to be the central themes of his work, the struggles and triumphs of communities within the Appalachian region, and pride in cultural heritage. The collection contains a detailed index, interview summary, transcription, index cards with questions, and a reel-to-reel audio tape of the interview.

Thompson, Elois (Fa 1258), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1258. Student paper titled “Uncle Henry and the Kentucky Mountaineers” in which Elois Thompson details the life and career of “farmer, soldier, boxer, dairy-farm employee, comedian, aircraft factory employee, and hillbilly musician” Henry Green Warren. Thompson describes Warren’s childhood in Green County, his beginnings as a host on a popular radio program, and his time as a musician in several country music bands. Collection contains a draft of the original paper with the editor’s notes and the final copy of Thompson’s paper.

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?

Foodways (Fa 1202), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1202. Collection of papers written by students in Professor Barry Kaufkins’ Foodways class (FLK/ANTH 388) at Western Kentucky University. While a majority of the papers focus on Easter traditions, other topics of note include immigrant foodways traditions, fundraising efforts, community organizations, tailgating, and sorority life. Papers also include photographs taken by students.

Disaster And Survival, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Disaster and Survival. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Portsmouth Public Library from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Gathering, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Gathering. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Southern Ohio Medical Center Life Center & Connex from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Conservation, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Conservation. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Shawnee State Lodge & Conference Center from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Recovery, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Recovery. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. The banner host site will be announced at a later date.

Everyday Artistry, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Everyday Artistry. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Southern Ohio Museum & Cultural Center from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Returning, Regeneration And Newcomers, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Returning, Regeneration and Newcomers. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Clark Memorial Library, Shawnee State University from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Ohio Field Schools, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Ohio Field Schools. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Ohio State University Extension Office - Scioto County from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Intergenerational Relationships, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Intergenerational Relationships. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the Northwest High School from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

Responding To Community Needs, Center For Folklore Studies And Ohio Field Schools

Placemaking Traveling Exhibit Banners

33" X 88" banner titled Responding to Community Needs. The banner is one of nine banners that are a part of the Placemaking in Scioto County, Ohio traveling exhibit. This banner will be on display at the 14th Street Community Center from December, 2018 - August, 2019.

The Doyen Of Dixie: A Survey Of The Banjo Stylings Of Uncle Dave Macon, Corbin F. Hayslett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

David Harrison Macon (1870-1952) is often memorialized for his showmanship rather than his banjo playing. To compartmentalize such a significant American musician yields a wide gap within scholarship about Macon, country music history and the banjo. Macon’s banjo playing, documented through over two-hundred and fifty recordings made between the 1920s and 1950s, represents an array of cultures, eras, ethnicities, and styles all preserved in the repertoire of one of the most prolific country musicians of the 20^th century. This study reveals Macon’s playing by considering such factors as influences that preceded his professional tenure, identifying elements within his playing …

Heroes Of Indian Head Rock, Rick Duncan

Indian Head Rock Project

A series of posters created by Rick Duncan to commemorate the Heroes of Indian Head Rock in July of 2018.

A Real Rock Star, Mike James

Indian Head Rock Project

An article published in Ashland Daily Independent discussing the documentary film on the Indian Head Rock by Steve Middleton from November 2, 2017.

A Rock The Refuses To Be Forgotten, T. Vincent Herman

Indian Head Rock Project

An article published by Portsmouth Daily Times describing the screening of Steve Middleton's film documentary on Indian Head Rock at the Scioto County Welcome Center in Portsmouth, Ohio on August 26, 2017.