UND English professor Kim Donehower releases new book on ‘Appalachia’

University of North Dakota Associate Professor of English Kim Donehower has released her new book, Rereading Appalachia: Literacy, Place and Cultural Resistance. The book examines Appalachia — a 205,000-square-mile region that runs along the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi — and the people who live there. Appalachia is an area known for poverty and other challenges common to rural areas, such as underfunded schools, stagnant economic development, corrupt political systems and drug abuse. Donehower’s book reveals the stereotypes surrounding Appalachia through “an examination of language and rhetoric.” Rereading Appalachia discusses the pressing topics for the region — including the challenges faced by first-generation college students, prejudice toward the LGBT community, the pressure to leave the area to find better quality jobs and the rise of Appalachian and Affrilachian art in urban communities — while also examining past research for researcher bias and attempting to counteract class-based arguments about the region’s people. About Donehower: Donehower received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina, and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Minnesota. She has been a UND faculty member since 2001 and serves as the coordinator of UND’s English Education Program. Donehower’s research focuses on literacy in rural communities