Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Marginalization and Resilience from Within and Without Appalachia: Views on Place and Disruption in Eastern Kentucky and Washington, D.C.
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The people who reside amidst Appalachia's misty mountains experience geographical and place-based marginalization in a way that is unique in the American context, and that indeed has long helped define the very notion of geographical "outsider-dom." Yet Appalachians are not alone in experiencing this kind of place-based marginalization, even if it is a more primary source of marginalization here than in other places, where place-based marginalization often intersects more visibly with marginalization on the basis of race, religion, etc. But what might we learn from putting voices from Appalachia’s misty and marginalized mountains in a kind of conversation with voices from other marginalized American contexts, perhaps even those that seem to differ dramatically from Appalachia? In this paper I explore the overlappings and continuities in the words of residents of rural eastern Kentucky and urban Washington, D.C., both of whom experience place-based marginalization, among other kinds of marginalization, and whose regions and neighborhoods are currently undergoing dramatic economic shifts. What do residents in both of these places have to say about how place matters to them, when place itself is a source both of marginalization but also of resilience and cultural sustainability? And how is this colored by the threats to their place, livelihood, and well-being that are currently taking place in their communities in the form of coal industry shifts and gentrification, respectively? This paper explores these questions and the profound commitments to place that knit together the words of people in these two very different places.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Kirsten Crase recently completed her doctorate in American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently a Faculty Research Associate in the University of Maryland's Historic Preservation Program.
PowerPoint
Marginalization and Resilience from Within and Without Appalachia: Views on Place and Disruption in Eastern Kentucky and Washington, D.C.
The people who reside amidst Appalachia's misty mountains experience geographical and place-based marginalization in a way that is unique in the American context, and that indeed has long helped define the very notion of geographical "outsider-dom." Yet Appalachians are not alone in experiencing this kind of place-based marginalization, even if it is a more primary source of marginalization here than in other places, where place-based marginalization often intersects more visibly with marginalization on the basis of race, religion, etc. But what might we learn from putting voices from Appalachia’s misty and marginalized mountains in a kind of conversation with voices from other marginalized American contexts, perhaps even those that seem to differ dramatically from Appalachia? In this paper I explore the overlappings and continuities in the words of residents of rural eastern Kentucky and urban Washington, D.C., both of whom experience place-based marginalization, among other kinds of marginalization, and whose regions and neighborhoods are currently undergoing dramatic economic shifts. What do residents in both of these places have to say about how place matters to them, when place itself is a source both of marginalization but also of resilience and cultural sustainability? And how is this colored by the threats to their place, livelihood, and well-being that are currently taking place in their communities in the form of coal industry shifts and gentrification, respectively? This paper explores these questions and the profound commitments to place that knit together the words of people in these two very different places.
