Thursday, November 22, 2012
Exploratory Essay
My research paper was on incest in Appalachia. Because incest is such a common stereotype for Appalachia, I figured that there would be a vast amount of research done on the subject. However, this was not the case. I really had to look hard to find articles or research studies on inbreeding. In fact, I found so little research on the internet and in the library, that I had to use a live interview as one of my sources. My roommate's mother is an ER doctor in Chillicothe, and I spoke to her about some of the cases she has witnessed that deal with incest. After my paper, I realize that there is little factual evidence that inbreeding is more prevalent in Appalachia compared to the rest of the country. There was a time when marrying cousins was common, but that was earlier in the 1900s. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to look deeper into this topic, because this particular case was a stereotype that has been factually proven false.
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I think your topic is really interesting because parts of Appalachia are associated with that negative stereotype of interbreeding. Unfortunately, people still make that negative association with Kentucky. I would think finding information about your topic would be hard. It’s good that you were able to find someone to interview who could shed some light on the topic.
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought it would have been hard to find information on your topic considering we hear about it all the time, but we don't realize that it's just a stereotype and like you said it's not factual. I'm glad you've found someone to interview and help stop the stereotypes.
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