Discourse in Appalachia

I think that the current discourse about Appalachia is the same as it's always been. The bottom line is, people will not change their stereotypes on Appalachian people until they have the opportunity to meet them in person and hear THEIR perspective. We were fortunate enough to have some students from the region visit our classroom and tell us their side. I think one of most interesting points that they noted was that Appalachia is a matriarchal society. If a man hits a woman, she is expected to hit him back. When we watched Justified, Mags was the head honcho of her family and community, even though she was an older woman. I find this interesting, because in typical American culture, you would associate men as the dominant leader. On a national level, I feel that Appalachia is most popular in conversations about mountaintop removal mining. When the students came in to talk to our class, they discussed how mountains were their way of finding comfort in isolation. They stressed how mountains are an important geographical aspect of their lives, it's hard to imagine people coming in and tearing them apart.