Recapturing Community In Appalachia

Republicans," Journal ofAmerican History, 69 (Winter, 1982); Craig Calhoun, "The Radicalism of Tradition: Community Strength or Venerable Disguise and Borrowed Language," The American Journal of Sociology, 88 (March 1983); and John Kasson, Civilizing the Machine: Technology and Republican Values in America (New York: Penguin, 1977). "Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart, pp. 27-35 & 142-144. "Harry C. Boyte, Community is Possible: Repairing America's Roots (New York: Harper and Row, 1984) p. 31. l2Jim Wayne Miller, "Brier Sermon: You Must Be Born Again" in The Mountains Have Come Closer (Boone, N.C: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1980). "See discussions of this "division" in the essays included in "Assessing Appalachian Studies," Appalachian Journal, Vol. 9, Nos. 2 & 3 (Winter-Spring 1982). "Boyte, Community Is Possible, p. 11. "Ibid., p. 217. "Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart, p. 153. "Ibid., p. 143. "See on this subject the work of Harry Boyte and Sara Evans, Free Spaces: The Sources ofDemocratic Change in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1986) and Gar Alperovitz and Jeff Faux, Rebuilding America (New York: Pantheon, 1984). "Proverbs 29:18 "Quoted in C. Vann Woodward, "District of Devils," The New York Review (October 10, 1985), p. 30. 21Jane Wilson Joyce, "Crazy Quilt," The Quilt Poems (Lexington: Mill Springs Press, 1985). Recapturing Community In Appalachia by Charlotte T. Ross Ron Eller's remarks at the Appalachian Studies Conference last March struck an answering chord in me, for I have been obsessed for some time with the disappearance of community in Appalachia. Listening to people's varied and impassioned responses to his address, I realized that many people had been wanting to talk about these same issues, but had lacked a forum. The publication of Eller's paper in Appalachian Heritage and editor Fan's invitation to respond afford us such a forum. I think this essay is the finest work that Eller has done; it is morally courageous and socially responsible. He says things which wanted saying. Those of you who know both the man and his work will realize that this paper is the logical culmination of his concerns of the past decade: the social consequences of industrialism, history and memory, agriculture, land use and the environment , alternative energy, rapid economic change, work, civic responsibility, and reinterpreting Appalachia's past while planning her future. 51 My purpose here is not to present my own views of the region's future, which are rather different from Eller's, but to initiate and inform the discussion in the hope that others will choose to respond in these pages to the issues he has raised. Let me begin by categorizing some of the reactions which I heard after his address. Although the responses to his call for a search for community were generally favorable—we all do seem to understand that the issue needs examining—they fall into three distinct groups. The amazing thing is that none of these groups seemed to be able to hear what the others were saying, and none of them seemed to have heard the same speech. Yet, logically examined, their concerns are neither mutually exclusive nor so serious as to prevent our continuing discussion . The first group of people were troubled by the seeming conflict between individualism and community. If they have to choose between an image of Appalachia as the home of the supreme individualist and an image of Appalachian community, they will choose the former every time. Mountaineers like thinking of themselves as "independent to the fourth power." When Eller challenges the assertions of Campbell, Kephart, Raine, Ford and others in this regard, he is assaulting regional pride. This same group holds nostalgically to Turner's frontier thesis, preferring to associate individualism with the frontier rather than with the increasing atomization of modern life. In defense of their arguments, they cite examples of families who were "selfreliant " and "non-joiners" until modern times. This group cannot conceive of the kind of collective social action which Eller proposes for Appalachia's future. Yet, their differences are more semantic and perceptual than real. This first group will have no difficulty recalling moments when isolated families came together as a community in response to loss, need or...