The Sarah Denman Faces of Appalachia Symposium

Join us in celebrating Tijah Bumgarner’s work!

About:
Naming and narratives have mapped the region of Appalachia as a place apart, but as the physical landscape shifts away from coal,
so too does the cultural landscape. The diverse stories of black, queer and other identity cultures have been here all along, but what can hopefully happen within the economic, cultural shift, will be these narratives taking center stage, as opposed to the minimal side
story throughout Appalachia’s past. What are the stories that students can tell? How can they tell them? What does it mean for them to tell their stories? In the economic, cultural shift, this gap remains a space to not necessarily rewrite history, but to discuss the ways in which this history is taken up and reevaluated in the present.