Appalachian Discourse

      As far as discourse concerning Appalachia goes, I definitely still believe that there are prevalent stereotypes about the region that are mostly negative. Although, despite these rumors and widespread beliefs, after taking this course, I now have a greater understanding of the reality that the people in Appalachia live everyday. I thought it was particularly interesting hearing the women from the group here on campus speak about their home. This was an incredibly influential conversation on my thoughts of Appalachia because although we had read plenty about the region and I was involved in many conversations in the classroom about the subject, hearing the first person perspective about people living this reality was eye-opening. I discuss the highlights below.

       First of all, addressing the common stereotypes, I thought it was interesting to note that one of the women speaking referred to "wife beating, very violent," and "eating whatever we could chew," as "classically Appalachian". The speaker, to my surprise, did not even label these as stereotypes - just stated they were "classically Appalachian". To me, the way she addressed these labels was as though she was admitting some truth to them.
     Along with the possible stereotype confirmation, it struck me that the women who came to speak to the class mentioned feeling "exposed" and uncomfortable on really flat land because of their familiarity with the mountains. One speaker even stated, "that's what my mountains do, they put me in a little bubble". This surprised me because there is just no way I can relate to that being a positive thing. Why would anyone want to live in a bubble? I personally love to go explore other parts of the world, however, I do not have the deep rooted love for Appalachia (I grew up in western Virginia, mind you) that these women described.
   The last thing I wanted to touch on from the speakers was the matriarchal society that they discussed. This female-run social culture achieved through discourse is one of the topics I may write my final discourse analysis focused on. Everything from Sohn's book we read to the speakers to The Hunger Games has reiterated and proven that the women from Appalachia are strong and hard workers. The speakers that day just confirmed this.