Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
“That’s Where the Scoopers Live”: The Trials and Triumphs of a Catskill Mountain Family
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This paper addresses marginalized populations in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, offering an overview of the historical context in which these populations emerged and the experiences of a particular family – my own. Much discussion during the recent presidential campaign focused on the supposed role that uneducated white voters, often referred to derogatorily as “white trash,” have played in influencing American politics over the years. This population is typically associated with the rural southern United States, but a similar population exists in the northern states as well. As a number of writers have pointed out (e.g. Wray 2006 and Isenberg 2016), opportunities for members of these populations, wherever they live, are limited; in fact, class disparity has existed since the early days of European settlement. In the Catskills of Sullivan County, NY, a derisive local term for “backward country folk” is scoopers – originally a reference to people who scooped manure, or alternatively to those who dug canals, according to popular etymologies. After discussing the county’s social history, I will consider various threads of my maternal family background, showing how several generations of family members have come to terms with poverty and a stigmatized rural identity (particularly in distinction to the identity of tourists from New York City). My aim is to highlight very real class disparities within "white America" that need to be addressed; but I stress that acknowledging these disparities goes hand in hand with support for enlightened politics, cross-cultural understanding, and such movements as Black Lives Matter.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Timothy Di Leo Browne is a lecturer at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, in the School Canadian Studies and the School of Linguistics and Language Studies. His work focuses on cultural and linguistic contact in a variety of contexts, particularly between urban and rural populations and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of North America. He has written about the Appalachians of the northern United States and Canada, with a focus on the Catskill Mountains.
“That’s Where the Scoopers Live”: The Trials and Triumphs of a Catskill Mountain Family
This paper addresses marginalized populations in the Catskill Mountains of New York State, offering an overview of the historical context in which these populations emerged and the experiences of a particular family – my own. Much discussion during the recent presidential campaign focused on the supposed role that uneducated white voters, often referred to derogatorily as “white trash,” have played in influencing American politics over the years. This population is typically associated with the rural southern United States, but a similar population exists in the northern states as well. As a number of writers have pointed out (e.g. Wray 2006 and Isenberg 2016), opportunities for members of these populations, wherever they live, are limited; in fact, class disparity has existed since the early days of European settlement. In the Catskills of Sullivan County, NY, a derisive local term for “backward country folk” is scoopers – originally a reference to people who scooped manure, or alternatively to those who dug canals, according to popular etymologies. After discussing the county’s social history, I will consider various threads of my maternal family background, showing how several generations of family members have come to terms with poverty and a stigmatized rural identity (particularly in distinction to the identity of tourists from New York City). My aim is to highlight very real class disparities within "white America" that need to be addressed; but I stress that acknowledging these disparities goes hand in hand with support for enlightened politics, cross-cultural understanding, and such movements as Black Lives Matter.
