Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Tales from The Trail: An East Tennessee Native Finds Appalachia on the Appalachian Trail
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail runs 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. Appalachia is in the name. And the southern portion of the trail runs through the heart of southern Appalachia, on the border between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina. Yet through-hikers (people who set out to hike the entire 2,200 miles in one season, typically northbound, from March through August or so), as a class, tend to be from a socio-economic caste that sets them apart from the residents of the Appalachian counties in Tennessee and North Carolina, through which the trail runs.
I am a member of the long distance hiking community. I have through-hiked both the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. I am also a story teller and a poet. (My trail name is The Beer Poet.) I am also a native of Sullivan County, Tennessee, where my family has roots for five generations. In a panel presentation at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association, I plan to explore, in poetry and story, my experiences as an Appalachian native on the AT. My stories show the wide gulf between the culture of Appalachia and the preconceptions of the region held by often upper-middle-class and transregional through hikers. At the same time, my experiences reflect the truism that you never really know your own home until you have left it. And when you return, you see it for the first time.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Brandon G. Bragg is a story teller, a poet, and an instructor in the Speech Communication program at Northeast State Technical Community College in Blountville, Tennessee. He has through-hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. His trail name is The Beer Poet.
Tales from The Trail: An East Tennessee Native Finds Appalachia on the Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail runs 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. Appalachia is in the name. And the southern portion of the trail runs through the heart of southern Appalachia, on the border between the states of Tennessee and North Carolina. Yet through-hikers (people who set out to hike the entire 2,200 miles in one season, typically northbound, from March through August or so), as a class, tend to be from a socio-economic caste that sets them apart from the residents of the Appalachian counties in Tennessee and North Carolina, through which the trail runs.
I am a member of the long distance hiking community. I have through-hiked both the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. I am also a story teller and a poet. (My trail name is The Beer Poet.) I am also a native of Sullivan County, Tennessee, where my family has roots for five generations. In a panel presentation at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Appalachian Studies Association, I plan to explore, in poetry and story, my experiences as an Appalachian native on the AT. My stories show the wide gulf between the culture of Appalachia and the preconceptions of the region held by often upper-middle-class and transregional through hikers. At the same time, my experiences reflect the truism that you never really know your own home until you have left it. And when you return, you see it for the first time.
