Appalachian Responsey Wonse

Write a response to what we've read so far in Sohn's book. What is surprising you? What do you like or dislike in what you've read? Any points of agreement or disagreement? Things you relate to or don't relate to? What, if anything, do you think Sohn's book adds to the conversation about how Appalachia is constructed in American culture? Women of Appalachia by Katherine Sohn focuses on the lives of three Appalachian women who have overcome stereotypes to succeed in their endeavors. What surprised us about this book is the format. Written as her dissertation, the book was organized in a very scientific manner. This made it easier to read and understand. For most English classes we read novels or articles, but reading a dissertation is new and took some time to get use to. I liked the set up of how she gave a background on each of the women and about her life in the Appalachian culture. Overall we disagreed with Sohn’s choice to pick three women who attended the same college. It is very difficult to take three accounts and generalize them across Appalachia as a whole. The study could improve if there work more participants from different regions of Appalachia. Her small sample size was not sufficient enough to disprove the Appalachian stereotype. We also found her to be very bias and in her attempts to disprove the Appalachian stereotype she failed to write about any of their flaws and chose to hide their “mountain” dialect. By not letting the reader get a better understanding of these women and how they talked was like she was embarrassed and afraid to let the reader an aspect that might contribute to this stereotype. We do not relate to Appalachia values. Besides our immediate families we don’t have much closeness with cousins, uncles, and grandparents. Appalachia has large families all living close together. To be really close with their entire family is normal for them, but strange for us. I find it difficult to relate to those who are older than me yet have lower education levels. In our society, you go to school, you finish school, and then you start a family and life for yourself. This is not the case for many of the women in this book and their family members. Also in our families the men in our family are not superior to the women. Our families have a lot more gender equality than those in the Appalachian house holds. It was hard for both of us to find any way to relate to these women, other than being in college. Written by Kieren Astall and Scott O’lone