Throughout this course Sam Telford and I discussed almost all of the
texts assigned in class together. We both found that all of them included
many distinct stereotypes about Appalachia and the people that live there.
While many of the stereotypes that were included helped to show positive
ideals such as strong family values, love of the land, and loyalty there were
also negative stereotypes depicted in the readings as all. We found the
mix of stereotypes very fascinating and decided to direct our curiosity towards
our guest speakers. We wanted to know if the recent publishing of these
books and other factors such as media and technology had an affect on how
people perceive Appalachia in today’s society.
The question we came up with to ask the speakers was: “Do
you think the public perception of Appalachia has improved or declined in the
twenty-first century?”
While I missed class due to a doctors appointment Sam asked the speakers
our question and took notes on their responses.
They did not take a direct stance on whether they thought it has
improved or declined, but they went on to talk about how public perception is
mixed. They gave examples of
negative stereotypes such as Appalachians being bullied and made fun of for
their accents, people dehumanizing them for being from a region that is seen as
“lower” and “less important”. The
older lady that spoke about being at a conference helping to fund various parts
of Ohio mentioned that “those people down there wouldn’t know what to do
without the coal jobs”. Which I
found very peculiar, since it almost implies that the people are not capable of
doing anything. They also included
positive things that have been noticed by society. One thing was the Bluegrass music revival movement and how
it has improved people’s perception because many enjoy Bluegrass music. Another positive was the increase in
education and how this generation is becoming known for being literate.
No matter what happens I think that there will always be a few bad stereotypes about
any group or culture. I do think that broad stereotypes have an impact on societies opinion of groups, especially groups that are much different than the rest of society which makes it very hard for Appalachia to lose these negative stereotypes. It is really nice to see the other side of the stereotype and see that not all stereotypes are negative and they can be influential in a positive way.
I think you did a nice job reflecting on the question that you came up with. I agree that there's definitely a vivid mix of negative and positive aspects - and I love that you mentioned bluegrass music. I feel that bluegrass music has evolved in the past few decades, and we see artists from all over with some bluegrass roots. Recently, I realized that there's plenty of music I listen to that arguably has Appalachian roots (Bela Fleck, Fleet Foxes, Avett Brothers, etc). Bela Fleck is a superstar banjo player who was born in NYC, and his music reflects a huge bluegrass influence. I feel that Appalachians should definitely be proud of inventing (?) the bluegrass genre because it's developed into an interesting genre among popular artists.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts Ali. I to had the same question when the speakers came in and they answered it very well. There are quite a few negative stereotypes out there that most people just take in and believe rather than checking out if what they believe really is true. This happens with many aspects in society and I just don't know if people don't have enough time or if they just don't care about some things enough to look them up. I know for me, I really never thought about Appalachia so I didn't talk about it, thus didn't need to research the culture. I think you did a very good job incorporating discourse into your blog and the question you posed was one that could have many answers which we saw with the speakers' reactions.
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