Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 9.09 History and Poverty
Presentation #1 Title
The Code of The Hills: Poverty, Privacy, Prudence, And The Disciplining of Appalachian Communities
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
On September 20th, 1967 Canadian filmmaker Hugh O’Connor was shot and killed by Hobart Ison while filming a documentary that was to explore the extremely impoverished conditions of Eastern Kentucky coalmining communities. Despite the presence of credible witnesses Ison’s initial trial ended in a hung jury. Sympathy for Ison from the community in the immediate aftermath of the murder was considerable. Much of the discourse that followed the event indicated conflicting responses to the violent shooting, derived from multiple and varied populations. This essay investigates the discourses regarding O’Connor’s murder, both the discourses of justification and of conviction, in light of conflicting logics, sensibilities, and codes of conduct that ground the construction of rhetoric. Hobart Ison’s trial marked the intersection of divergent enaction of decorum or prudence. In the trial, prudence became the conduit for shifting the stakes of the trial from Ison’s guilt to the community’s, demonstrating prudence’s disciplining and silencing function with regard to isolated, impoverished communities. The trial of Hobart Ison represents a nodal point of marginalization of poor Appalachian communities, drawing attention to the material realities poor communities face and the rhetorical methods used to reproduce their marginal position.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Matthew Richards a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, researching the unique ways that Appalachian populations have been historically marginalized culturally, politically, and socially. As a rhetorical scholar, Mr. Richards emphasize the communicative nature of this marginalization and its implications on Appalachian identity by paying particular attention to the history of poverty and violence in the region.
The Code of The Hills: Poverty, Privacy, Prudence, And The Disciplining of Appalachian Communities
Harris Hall 342
On September 20th, 1967 Canadian filmmaker Hugh O’Connor was shot and killed by Hobart Ison while filming a documentary that was to explore the extremely impoverished conditions of Eastern Kentucky coalmining communities. Despite the presence of credible witnesses Ison’s initial trial ended in a hung jury. Sympathy for Ison from the community in the immediate aftermath of the murder was considerable. Much of the discourse that followed the event indicated conflicting responses to the violent shooting, derived from multiple and varied populations. This essay investigates the discourses regarding O’Connor’s murder, both the discourses of justification and of conviction, in light of conflicting logics, sensibilities, and codes of conduct that ground the construction of rhetoric. Hobart Ison’s trial marked the intersection of divergent enaction of decorum or prudence. In the trial, prudence became the conduit for shifting the stakes of the trial from Ison’s guilt to the community’s, demonstrating prudence’s disciplining and silencing function with regard to isolated, impoverished communities. The trial of Hobart Ison represents a nodal point of marginalization of poor Appalachian communities, drawing attention to the material realities poor communities face and the rhetorical methods used to reproduce their marginal position.
