Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
What is Wyrd about Appalachian Fatalism?: Re-thinking Freedom and Action in Hillbilly Folk-Metaphysics
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The mass media often characterizes Appalachian folk-metaphysics as backward, superstitious, and fatalistic. Likewise, the “hillbilly” is presented as a degenerate whose blind adherence to tradition has led him/her to pessimistic quietism. This rhetoric utilizes shame inducing caricatures, like those found in Deliverance and Wrong Turn, to argue for the discarding of outdated and regressive values so the hillbilly may be reformed and brought back into the fold of civilized society. However, as Rodger Cunningham points out, “this kind of language from the usual suspects should clue us in to the fact that [Appalachian folk-metaphysics] is actually something quite different and valuable.” Using Jean Ritchie’s “Cool of the Day” as an organizing, hermeneutic key, this paper seeks to reconsider the foundational Appalachian characteristics of fatalism, tradition, and individualism in the context of the unique cosmovision expressed in the songs, folk narratives, and family stories that were (and still are) the essence of cultural and personal existential vitality. From the traditional Jack Tales to Silas House’s A Parchment of Leaves, the stories we tell to and about ourselves contain encoded, epistemic structures that provide organizing principles for meaningful action. Ultimately, I argue that the solutions to the unique problems of Appalachia are found not in the rejection of traditional Appalachian folk values, but in a return to the essential lessons regarding choice and freedom found in mountain narratives. Rather than eulogize the hillbilly as JD Vance suggests, I will stress Maurice Manning’s call to get “more hillbilly as [we] go.”
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Edward Karshner was born in Ross County Ohio. He is an Associate Professor of English at Robert Morris University.
What is Wyrd about Appalachian Fatalism?: Re-thinking Freedom and Action in Hillbilly Folk-Metaphysics
The mass media often characterizes Appalachian folk-metaphysics as backward, superstitious, and fatalistic. Likewise, the “hillbilly” is presented as a degenerate whose blind adherence to tradition has led him/her to pessimistic quietism. This rhetoric utilizes shame inducing caricatures, like those found in Deliverance and Wrong Turn, to argue for the discarding of outdated and regressive values so the hillbilly may be reformed and brought back into the fold of civilized society. However, as Rodger Cunningham points out, “this kind of language from the usual suspects should clue us in to the fact that [Appalachian folk-metaphysics] is actually something quite different and valuable.” Using Jean Ritchie’s “Cool of the Day” as an organizing, hermeneutic key, this paper seeks to reconsider the foundational Appalachian characteristics of fatalism, tradition, and individualism in the context of the unique cosmovision expressed in the songs, folk narratives, and family stories that were (and still are) the essence of cultural and personal existential vitality. From the traditional Jack Tales to Silas House’s A Parchment of Leaves, the stories we tell to and about ourselves contain encoded, epistemic structures that provide organizing principles for meaningful action. Ultimately, I argue that the solutions to the unique problems of Appalachia are found not in the rejection of traditional Appalachian folk values, but in a return to the essential lessons regarding choice and freedom found in mountain narratives. Rather than eulogize the hillbilly as JD Vance suggests, I will stress Maurice Manning’s call to get “more hillbilly as [we] go.”
