Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 5.03 Education
Presentation #1 Title
Flatalachia: Bringing Appalachian Studies to Flatland Eastern North Carolina
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Why Appalachian Studies in the flatlands of Eastern North Carolina—in Greenville at just fifty-six feet above sea level? Despite differences in geography and topography, Appalachia and Eastern NC are cultural cousins with some shared history and themes, resulting often from their rurality—from early immigrant populations to agrarian enterprises, environmental exploitation, economic voids and social hardships, and marginalization that persists today. In the Spring 2014 semester at East Carolina University, I am co-teaching an honors seminar titled “Root that Mountain Down: Appalachian Culture & Rural Imaginings in America.” The other professor teaches courses in music composition and popular music, and I teach English composition and co-edit a folklore journal. The concept of the class began as a quest for a way to bring variety to a full load of service courses and teach something connected to personal music/dance interests outside of class. The humanities/fine arts course surveys various disciplines’ scholarship, journalism, and popular readings/media—with visits from guest speakers/artists. Using an Appalachian regional studies lens, topics will include conundrums of environment vs. economics, country/city collisions, economic and health disparities, foodways and handicrafts, instrumental/vocal and sacred/secular music, labor issues, morality and criminality, and perversion and pervasion of the rural. Students’ analytical and creative projects will spring from the Appalachia-specific examples we study and examine how those themes and challenges pervade locally in rural Eastern NC. The conference presentation would establish background information about the course and provide a mid-semester status report about the course’s progress, successes and challenges, and developments.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Leanne E. Smith teaches in East Carolina University’s Department of English in Greenville, NC, serves on the boards of the Folk Arts Society of Greenville and North Carolina Folklore Society, and is assistant editor of the North Carolina Folklore Journal. She received an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Goucher College and is working on a manuscript about the Green Grass Cloggers.
Flatalachia: Bringing Appalachian Studies to Flatland Eastern North Carolina
Smith Music Hall 112
Why Appalachian Studies in the flatlands of Eastern North Carolina—in Greenville at just fifty-six feet above sea level? Despite differences in geography and topography, Appalachia and Eastern NC are cultural cousins with some shared history and themes, resulting often from their rurality—from early immigrant populations to agrarian enterprises, environmental exploitation, economic voids and social hardships, and marginalization that persists today. In the Spring 2014 semester at East Carolina University, I am co-teaching an honors seminar titled “Root that Mountain Down: Appalachian Culture & Rural Imaginings in America.” The other professor teaches courses in music composition and popular music, and I teach English composition and co-edit a folklore journal. The concept of the class began as a quest for a way to bring variety to a full load of service courses and teach something connected to personal music/dance interests outside of class. The humanities/fine arts course surveys various disciplines’ scholarship, journalism, and popular readings/media—with visits from guest speakers/artists. Using an Appalachian regional studies lens, topics will include conundrums of environment vs. economics, country/city collisions, economic and health disparities, foodways and handicrafts, instrumental/vocal and sacred/secular music, labor issues, morality and criminality, and perversion and pervasion of the rural. Students’ analytical and creative projects will spring from the Appalachia-specific examples we study and examine how those themes and challenges pervade locally in rural Eastern NC. The conference presentation would establish background information about the course and provide a mid-semester status report about the course’s progress, successes and challenges, and developments.
