Appalachia and Athens

Appalachia and Athens

 Appalachia is the region of the United States that includes the Appalachian Mountains. Not only is Appalachia a region of the USA but it is also a culture and a way of life. People who live in Appalachia and consider themselves Appalachians have a unique way of living. They have their own dialect and own principals, morals, and values. However, being known as Appalachian in American society may have some negative effects. Many people view Appalachians as rude, ruthless, and violent rednecks who are weird and murder intruders. This view is primarily due to media and the effects it has on society. To discover what people think about Appalachia I Interviewed three people, Nick, Emily, and a second Nick. I asked them the following three questions.

1)      How would you define Appalachia?

2)      Would you consider yourself to be Appalachian? Please explain.

3)      What effect do you think media has on society’s view of Appalachia?

Nick W.

1)      Appalachia is just a location in the eastern United States of America that surrounds the Smokey Mountains. The people living in the foot hills of the Great Smokey Mountains may have a different culture but this is just because how society always needs to classify people. The culture that you often hear about isn't true to all just like the term "southern" is not true to all of the people who live in the Southern United States.

2)      I do not consider myself Appalachian because I come from South western Ohio in a suburb outside of Cincinnati.  I fall much more into the more Ohio Valley category based on which area of America I come from and grew up in. As I said before it has nothing to do with my culture and everything to do with where I reside and hail from. For example there is no notable Ohio River Valley culture to my knowledge but if there was to be one it would be created from people outside of the Ohio River Valley just to cast it into a negative light. Therefor destroying the legitimacy of the culture; just what like society does to Appalachia.

3)      Media describes Appalachia as one of two things, either dirty and ran down, or Beautiful and majestic. I would agree with the latter based off my limited experience with the environment here. There is no denial of the beauty this land has. For the people, I have met all kinds of people here making the entire possible presumptions about the culture false because I have noticed no distinguishing characteristics between the location and the people.

Emily M.

1)      Appalachia is the area around the Appalachian mountain region. I know this region stretches into Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. It probably stretches further up north, but I am not sure which states it encompasses. Appalachia also refers to the people of this region. Most of these people are mountain folk whose families settled in the mountains many years ago. Many of these people are relatives of miners who lived and worked in the many miner towns however, not every Appalachian town is or was once a mining town. I believe that there is a rich culture, full of stories and music that reflect the nature of the people of Appalachia and the history of their settlement.

2)      While I am currently living and going to school in the Appalachian region, I do not consider myself to be Appalachian. Appalachia is the culture of the people who have lived in Appalachia their whole lives. I am from a suburb of Dayton. Dayton is not part of Appalachia.

3)      I think media has a negative impact of the people of Appalachia. Media portrays the people of Appalachia as uneducated, stupid hillbillies/rednecks. I know this is not the case. It’s like saying that every person who lives in New York likes Broadway. While it may be true for some it does not reflect everyone in the region.

 Nick B.

1)      Appalachia is a geographical region in the Eastern United States. It consists of Vermont, parts of New Hampshire, Central and Northern New York, Western Pennsylvania, Northern Virginia, Western and Southern Ohio, Kentucky Tennessee, West Virginia, Northern Georgia, and the Western Carolinas; the areas where the Appalachian Mountains and foothills can be located. Most areas in Appalachia are ripe with coal, religion, and, by and large, are poorer than the rest of the contiguous United States. All these things are used to identify Appalachian culture but just because an area displays all these tendencies doesn't make it part of Appalachia.

2)      No I do not, Regardless of the fact that I share little culturally with the Appalachian peoples. I do not consider myself part of Appalachia because I am from Cincinnati, and I have no roots or connections here as of yet.

3)      Appalachia is generally given a negative portrayal by the media, with it being shown as a very poor area, with ridiculous, unreasonable faith and an economic base that is a drag on the country. Appalachia has been stereotyped as sort of America's shame, because of the huge discrepancy in economic and social development between there and the rest of the country.

 Athens Ohio is an Appalachian community, however it is not like the others in the sense that it is home to Ohio University.  The school gives the city a larger population and allows for businesses to grow. Even though the University in the end is good for the city, locals, or townies as the students call them, dislike the university students. They view the students as a nuisance and feel as if the shouldn’t be in their city. But without the students the city’s economy would be crash. If the city and the university had better communication with one another, I feel as if these feelings would go away. In my opinion the best way to start this communication is to start supporting each other. If the school were to donate money or offer volunteer services to the city, in which students could work, and if the city offered some scholarships to support incoming students and encourage students to attend the university the tension would lighten. Communication is essential to both the school and the cities success and needs to be improved.