Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 11.01 Environment and Religion
Presentation #1 Title
Appalachian Religious Identity: Reconsidering the Category "Appalachian Religion"
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Appalachian religion is a multi-faceted, complex entity with deep roots in both the historical and mythical construction of the region itself. An entrenched perception of difference between Appalachian religious traditions and their mainstream counterparts persists as a powerful paradigm that constitutes the region’s religious identity. In her article “On the Study of Religion in Appalachia: A Review/Essay” (Appalachian Journal, 1979) Melanie Sovine Reid critiques various historiographical models as insufficient to engage the phenomena of religion. Reid’s critique is apt and functions as an important contrast to what my research proposes; applying established historical tropes as organizational and analytical structures to illuminate the evolution and construction of Appalachian religious identity. Elsewhere, Reid-Sovine argues for the inclusion of socio-historic contexts within the study of Appalachian religion (Appalachia and America: Autonomy and Regional Dependence, 1983). My paper extends Sovine’s argument to include the interconnected myths of Appalachia and Appalachian religious identity as part of the region's socio-historic context. In order to write about Appalachian religion, I maintain that we must first analyze and understand Appalachian religious identity as a problematic category rooted in the stereotype and hyperbole of the myth of Appalachia itself.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Meredith Doster is a second year doctoral student in Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion with primary interests in Appalachian religious identity and its narrative constructions. Doster’s research examines the emergence and construction of Appalachian identity as a necessary counterpoint to ideals of normative, mainline American religious traditions. Contesting the category of "Appalachian religion," Doster’s work interrogates the complex relationships between centers and purported peripheries of American religious cultures. Doster received a B.A. in Music from Barnard College (2003) and an M.A. in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University (2010).
Appalachian Religious Identity: Reconsidering the Category "Appalachian Religion"
Corbly Hall 466
Appalachian religion is a multi-faceted, complex entity with deep roots in both the historical and mythical construction of the region itself. An entrenched perception of difference between Appalachian religious traditions and their mainstream counterparts persists as a powerful paradigm that constitutes the region’s religious identity. In her article “On the Study of Religion in Appalachia: A Review/Essay” (Appalachian Journal, 1979) Melanie Sovine Reid critiques various historiographical models as insufficient to engage the phenomena of religion. Reid’s critique is apt and functions as an important contrast to what my research proposes; applying established historical tropes as organizational and analytical structures to illuminate the evolution and construction of Appalachian religious identity. Elsewhere, Reid-Sovine argues for the inclusion of socio-historic contexts within the study of Appalachian religion (Appalachia and America: Autonomy and Regional Dependence, 1983). My paper extends Sovine’s argument to include the interconnected myths of Appalachia and Appalachian religious identity as part of the region's socio-historic context. In order to write about Appalachian religion, I maintain that we must first analyze and understand Appalachian religious identity as a problematic category rooted in the stereotype and hyperbole of the myth of Appalachia itself.
