Appalachia Revisited Panel 1: Transformations in Understanding Identity and Language

The participants in this panel present their contributions for the forthcoming Appalachia Revisited edited by William Schumann and Rebecca Adkins-Fletcher. Yunina Barbour-Payne presents “Carolina Chocolate Drops: Globalization and the Performative Expressions and Reception of Affrilachian Identity.” Barbour-Payne redresses the underrepresentation of Black communities in Appalachian Studies by presenting the groups’ members as 21st century musicians whose works address the local and global character of an Affrilachian presence and influence. Amanda Zeddy’s piece “Gender and Political Subjectivity in northwestern North Carolina” connects regional and feminist scholarship. Zeddy maps the “acceptable” understandings of Appalachian gender identity and politics to the corresponding “acceptable” forms of political participation in northwestern North Carolina from 1945-1990 to reveal the shifting ways patriarchy functions in different historical eras and contexts. Rachel Terman presents, “Intersectionality and Appalachian Identity.” Through contemporary sociological and feminist research perspectives, she analyzes ways young people negotiate their gender, race, and sexuality in the context of sense of belonging in West Virginia to better understand hegemonic and marginal notions of Appalachian identity. Finally, Kirk Hazen et al. present, “Continuity and Change for English Consonants in Appalachia.” Using sociophonetics, they explain the language variation patterns of consonants in West Virginia, including their future trajectories. Taken together, these topics reflect new directions in interdisciplinary scholarship on identities and language in the region. The presenters hope to use the panel discussion as a space to discuss connections among the topics with audience members and each other