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I call the Appalachian Mountains because I was born in the Appalachian region. I once thought that I understood the culture of the area because I have been personally involved with the people and their traditions for my entire life. In the past, I understood it to be a simple culture. One without real cultural struggle. I also understood that the Appalachian people were often called hillbillies, and that people from Appalachia were generally expected to fit a certain stereotype; I never truly understood the reasons and history behind this stereotype. Until I began the study of the Rhetoric and Culture of Appalachia, I never considered the Appalachian region in full. I was never educated on the history of the area, or on the effects that history has on the culture that that we see today. While I began life assuming that the Appalachian culture was simple, I now understand that the culture is made up of a heterogeneous community of individuals that have all undergone oppression and ridicule from American society through the hands-on experience and research of the Appalachian region. The Appalachian culture is complex and misrepresented.
I began the course of the Rhetoric and Culture of Appalachia with an idea of Appalachia that is very common. To me, most of the Appalachian people were hillbillies (An Introduction); I seemed to subconsciously know that my conception of the people was unfair because I felt the need to defend my assumptions about Appalachia. In “An Introduction”, Appalachia was full of people that were often uneducated and resistant to change. Through my studies, I have learned that the stereotypes that I have held of Appalachia, and the people therein, are not only misrepresentative, but held by most American people.
Appalachian people have been the victim of cultural stereotyping for a very long time. It often takes the form of name-calling, where these people are labelled “hillbillies”. It is commonly assumed that these people are uneducated, unintelligent, and the product of incestuous relationships. I learned about the hillbilly stereotype from a simple google search of the term. The search yielded pictures of For the purpose of study, I was asked to search the term “hillbilly” and found strong examples of the way in which the Appalachian people are stereotyped by American popular culture (Music: Rednecks and Hillbillies). Hillbillies are often toothless, alcoholic and gun-toting. Sometimes, they are depicted as homicidal, degenerate, inbred people that are out to wreak havoc among the “normal” American people.
My understanding of the Appalachian stereotype, and its perpetuation, has been further developed through class assignments such as the reading the play, The Kentucky Cycle. This play is about the Rowen family that began to inhabit Appalachia in the late 18th century. The family struggles throughout its time in the Appalachian area. They are subjected to unfair treatment by the coal mining companies that arrive in the area, violence with their neighbors, and internal strife. Many of the individuals in the family are portrayed as evil, greedy, and violent. Michael Rowen is the best example of a character that fits the Appalachian stereotype; he kills out of greed, he kidnaps a woman to force her into marriage, and violently beats the members of his family. Michael Rowen is the quintessential Appalachian hillbilly.
As expected, the hillbilly stereotype has been a major source of social shame to people that are from the Appalachian region, but do not necessarily fit the hillbilly stereotype. I have learned from stories like “One Affrilachian Woman’s Return Home” by Crystal E. Wilkinson that the shame that Appalachian people feel about their regional identity is so intense that it forces people to change the way that they act and speak when they are away from Appalachia (The Appalachian Experience). The way that Appalachian people are treated by the American society is unfair because it often forces them to do unfair things such as changing the way that they speak and act. The perpetuators of the Appalachian stereotype are mistreating the Appalachian people.
According to Ronald Lewis, “Appalachia is a region without a formal history”. He argues in “Beyond Isolation and Homogeneity” that the common conception of the Appalachian region was developed in the late 19th century by local color writers. The color writers developed stories of the region as entertainment for the middle class (Beyond Isolation and Homogeneity). I have learned that many of concepts that Americans tend to hold true about the Appalachian region were born in the time in which the color writers were developing the story.
I had the opportunity to interview an individual from that grew up in the Appalachian state, West Virginia. I was able to ask him about his experience with the Appalachian stereotype, and the effects that it has had on his life. He explained to me that people have not been able to discern him as an Appalachian from other Appalachian people. Additionally, he mentioned that he could not pick out an Appalachian person from another at first glance (Interview Project). From this, I developed an even deeper understanding of Appalachian misrepresentation (Interview Project). In reality, Appalachian people do not fit the hillbilly stereotype.
I have learned that that this stereotype, while heavily influential to the American understanding of the Appalachian people, holds little real validity as a true representation of the Appalachian people. In an interview of an Appalachian man, we had the opportunity to discuss Appalachian stereotyping, and his experience with it. While he was familiar with the stereotype, he had no personal experience with someone that fit the stereotype (Interview Project). The obvious implication is that most of the Appalachian people do not fit the stereotype of the region.
In conclusion, I have learned that the Appalachian people make a culture that has been misrepresented by American society for the benefit of others. The Appalachian stereotype holds little validity, and has been used as an effective tool to mistreat the community. I now understand that I have helped to perpetuate the hillbilly stereotype because I did not have a real understanding of the culture, its complexities, and the misrepresentation that it has endured.