News and Spotlights from the Center for Appalachian Studies

BOONE, N.C. — The new Appalachian Journal (vol. 51, no. 3-4) celebrates the life and career of Gurney Norman, Appalachian writer, documentarian, English professor and Kentucky Poet Laureate (2009-10). Norman is the author of Divine Rights Trip: A Folk-Tale (1972), …

By Lauren Gibbs BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Cory as the third editor of Appalachian Journal. “On behalf of my co-chair, Katherine Ledford, as …

By Sara Jones Alexander Hooker’s journey to old-time folk music started gradually, then suddenly. He has been a professor of Appalachian Strings here at App State for 25 years. Looking back, he reflects on where his path to teaching music …

By Yndiana Montes-Fogelquist, edited by Lauren Gibbs BOONE, N.C. — The 47th Annual Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) Conference will be held on the campus of Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, for the first time from March 7 through 9, 2024. …

By Jan Todd BOONE, N.C. — At Appalachian State University, Mountaineers have a preference in the pronunciation of Appalachian: “appa-latch-un.” According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary and several others, both “appa-latch-un” and “appa-lay-shun,” an alternative pronunciation, are acceptable. The history …

BOONE, N.C. — On September 26, 2023, Appalachian State University welcomed Chilean-born visual storyteller and community activist Rodrigo Dorfman for a public lecture titled “The Making of the Nuevo South.” The event, held at the Turchin Center for the Visual …

By Barbara Kingsolver NEW YORK TIMES—Barbara Kingsolver, whose Pulitzer-winning “Demon Copperhead” offered a variegated portrait of the region, guides readers through a literary…

By Lauren Anderson, edited by Jessica Stump BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University’s Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review marks its 50th anniversary this academic year, with the journal’s semicentennial volume set to publish later this spring.

BOONE, N.C. — Faculty, staff, and students from Appalachian State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies participated in the 46th Annual Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) Conference, held March 16–19, 2023 at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. This was the first time …

The Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University hosted its inaugural Global Roots of Appalachian Mountain Dance Symposium March 31–April 2, 2022. The free, three-day event brought campus and community together to celebrate the diverse global traditions that shape …

By Ellen Gwin Burnette Trevor McKenzie ’10, ’12 has been named director of the Center for Appalachian Studies effective Aug 1, 2021. McKenzie has worked for almost a decade in Appalachian State University’s Belk Library and Information Commons as an …

Appalachian Journal has published its first special edition on Appalachian music. This double issue (vol. 42, nos. 3-4) is the largest one in the journal’s 42-year history, with 300-plus pages and 60-plus contributors. Guest editors Mark Freed and Trevor McKenzie …