News and Spotlights from the Center for Appalachian Studies

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 …

“After Coal” profiles inspiring individuals who are building a new future in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky and South Wales. This hour long documentary invites viewers to the front lines of the transition away from fossil fuels. The stories of …

In Spring 2021, the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University hosted the Cornbread & Tortillas Virtual Residency, a weeklong celebration of art, music, dance, and storytelling that brought Appalachian and Latino traditions together in dialogue and performance. Cornbread …

Edited by Jessica Stump BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University is bringing a cultural blend of Appalachian and Latino music, dance and theater to campus and the local community through a three-day, virtual Cornbread and Tortillas residency, April 20–22.

By Ellen Gwin Burnette BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Conrad E. “Ozzie” Ostwalt has been named interim director of Appalachian State University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and the Appalachian studies academic program, both housed in the College of Arts and Sciences …

By Anna Muckenfuss The latest Appalachian Journal features reviews and articles that focus on opioids in Appalachia, along with poetry by two recent Poet Laureates—George Ella Lyon of Kentucky and Joseph Bathanti of N.C., and poems by Phillip Howerton, R.T. …