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This Side of the Mountain Virginia Carney Impressions of the Twenty-first Annual ASA Conference Though she and her husband have lived in Washington, D.C. for many years, Katherine White grew up in the hills ofVirginia. During a recent visit with their daughter (Dr. Kathy Bullock, professor ofmusic and director of the Black Music Ensemble at Berea College), Mrs. White and I sat around her daughter's dining room table after dinner and swapped stories about growing up in Southern Appalachia—she as a black woman, I as a Cherokee/Appalachian. Eventually, storytelling segued into philosophizing and I listened closely to the words of my elderly friend. "Some folks spend their whole lives making friends with 'classy' people," she remarked, "but I have always made it a point to befriend the ordinary people, you know, the ones who don't have any special talent, or a lot of education, or money, or fame. I've watched things for a lot of years now, and it never fails—when you really need somebody, those 'classy' friends are nowhere to be found. But the common people will come through for you every time." The words of Mrs. White, a woman widely loved and respected by people of all races and classes, were a timely reminder of the people we called "good decent folks" when I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, and of the ways in which lines of social stratification seem to blur in any gathering of Southern Appalachian people. Even among the 400 people who attended the recent Appalachian Studies conference in Boone, NC, for example, the boundaries which usually exist between the "highly educated" and the "self-educated" seemed considerably more permeable than at other academic conferences I have attended. Though culture, in order to survive, must be dynamic and adaptive, stagnant concepts of Appalachian people—like those of American Indians— persist throughout the world, perpetuated by the media and the entertainment industry, and often internalized by Appalachians themselves. Consequently, many of our young people endure incredible ridicule and are subjected to painful stereotypes when they enter institutions of Virginia Carney, lecturer and writer, is completing workfor a Ph.D. degree at the University ofKentucky. She received the Ellershaw Award as the outstanding graduate student in the English department for 1997-98. higher education—even within the Appalachian region. It is primarilywith Appalachian youth in mind, then, that I make the following observations and comments after attending the twenty-first annual conference of the Appalachian Studies Association. More Than Ever Before (1)This year, more than ever before, a diversity of voices joined in the presentations and panel discussions of the conference—and audiences listened and responded with warmth and encouragement. A quick glance at session titles such as the following gives some idea of the mosaic of people who live and work in Appalachia today: "Sustaining Community Memory: Research and Regional Collections in a Digital Age." "Retaining the Cherokee Tradition ofFamily Support in the Midst of Change." "African-American Music in Appalachia: A Wealth ofTradition in Changing Times. " "Polio and Prayer Chains: Partnershipsfor Health in the Mountains." "Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go? Asian American Families in Western North Carolina." We've come a long way from the days when only white Appalachians attended the annual conference and when the voices of Afrilachians, Cherokees, Melungeons, and other ethnic groups were completely silenced in discussions ofAppalachian studies. Programs such as the one provided this year demonstrate the richness of our cultural diversity and enable our young people to learn first-hand the value oflistening to those who may be ethnically or professionally different from us, but who have a common cultural heritage. Special Recognition (2)Several colleges and universities deserve recognition for the number ofstudents they brought to the 1998 ASA Conference. For example, the host institution, Appalachian State University, along with Marshall and Radford Universities, not only encouraged students to participate in the program, but in many cases provided travel stipends so that students could experience a conference which would inspire and encourage them to become actively involved in maintaining the cultural autonomy of Southern Appalachia. These institutions, along with others...

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