Appalachian Studies Commons^™

Quantifying And Navigating The Potential Impacts Of The Mvp Southgate Extension On North Carolina’S Mmiw Crisis, Ryan Collins

ATU Scholars Symposium

Across the United States and Canada, there is an ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). While there are multiple intersecting factors that create these statistics, a considerable factor found across both nations is pipeline construction projects. The establishment of temporary worker camps for these projects has been shown to coincide with an increase in violent crime including human trafficking, sexual assault, and harassment against local women. In North Carolina, the proposed Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline has been met with tremendous pushback from Indigenous North Carolinians, who remain concerned about the potential establishment of these …

Lost But Not Found: Southern Appalachia, Migration Patterns, And Culinary Tourism, Ashli Q. Stokes, Wendy Atkins-Sayre

Dublin Gastronomy Symposium

Despite growing acknowledgement of the variety of cultures that developed Southern Appalachia’s cuisine, some popular food writing continues to highlight the so-called insular nature of its food, drink, and culinary festivals. Regional tourists, especially those visiting its Blue Ridge or Smoky mountains, also remain likely to experience a delimited, often problematic Scots-Irish or white-European pioneer past, including when they eat and drink. Billboards advertise the outlaw Hatfield and McCoy Dinner Show, visitors choose from moonshine tastings in dilapidated looking but new distilleries, and diners enjoy gourmet biscuits alongside gravy “flights” at trendy restaurants in Asheville, North Carolina. Appalachian Studies and …

Mountain (Grand) Mamas: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren During The Opioid Epidemic In Appalachian America And Their Portrayal In Media, Rosemary P. Kelley

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Deep within the hills of Appalachia grandparents are stepping into the familiar role of parenting as many have become the primary caregivers for their grandchildren. These grandparent-headed households (GHHs), a form of kinship care, have increased largely in response to the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the region; children are often left in the care of grandparents as parents experience substance use disorders and, in turn, incarceration. According to the US Census Bureau, over seven million grandparents live with their own grandchildren; over 32 percent of which serve as caregivers and are responsible for these children. The impact of kinship …

Into The Woods: Freedom And The Forest In The Hunger Games, Robert B. Hackey

Far West Popular Culture Association Annual Conference

Forests are contested terrains in literature. The woods are a bucolic setting far removed from the hectic, bustling world of the city or the grueling challenges of industrial life. At the same time, however, the forest challenges us – in the woods, we must take stock of ourselves, overcome unfamiliar obstacles, and face our fears. The forested settings of the Hunger Games – both natural and manmade – force tributes to wrestle with the nature of human freedom. Drawing upon political theorists from Thomas Hobbes to Isaiah Berlin, my paper also explores how tributes face a choice between positive and …

The Rockbridge Group: Masters Along The Maury, Teresa Gunter, Whitney M. Grim, Emma E. Noe, Grace Ragansky, William R. Tharp, Christine L. Moore

Student Scholar Showcase

For the last eight decades Rockbridge County, Virginia has served as an influential center for modern art. Neighbored by the capricious Maury River and nestled against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Rockbridge Baths significantly impacted the lives of four distinguished modern artists. Connected by ties of friendship or kin, the Rockbridge Group—Pierre Daura, Jean Hélion, Cy Twombly, and Sally Mann—drew inspiration and support from each other and from the people and places of the Rockbridge area.

In 1928, Catalan modernist Pierre Daura (1896-1976) married Louise Blair, a Virginian studying in Paris. His friend, the French painter Jean Hélion …