Chapter 35 Exercises: Stereotypes, Media, and the Battle Over Appalachian Identity

Exercise 1: Primary Source Analysis — The Stereotype in Print

Read the following primary source excerpts:

Source A — William Goodell Frost, "Our Contemporary Ancestors in the Southern Mountains," Atlantic Monthly, 1899: "Among the eight millions of people in the Appalachian mountain system, we have a contemporary survival of that pioneer life which has shaped our institutions and our character. They are our kindred, bone of our bone. Their life is a survival of the conditions of the colonial frontier. One feels among them in passing from cabin to cabin, as one would feel on turning the pages of history and reading the biography of a typical family of the Revolutionary epoch."

Source B — James Dickey, Deliverance (1970): "The river was down around the next turn. I could hear it, and it sounded as though it were running over something hard, like bone. We went around a big rock and the sound got louder, and I could see the water broken up ahead of us, and I thought that this was the place, and my heart went cold."

Source C — J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy (2016): "We hillbillies need to wake up. I don't know what the answer is, precisely, but I know it starts when we stop blaming Obama or Bush or faceless companies and ask ourselves what we can do to make things better."

a) Frost describes mountain people as "our contemporary ancestors" — people who are biologically related ("bone of our bone") to the reader but living in a different time period. What assumptions does this framing contain? Who is the implied reader? How does Frost's charitable intent coexist with a condescending framework?

b) The Dickey passage does not mention mountain people at all — it describes a river. Yet the novel and film built on passages like this one construct the mountain landscape as threatening and alien. How does the description of landscape contribute to the construction of a stereotype about the people who live in that landscape?

c) Vance uses the word "we" to position himself inside the community he is critiquing. What are the implications of this rhetorical choice? How does insider critique differ from outsider critique? Is Vance's use of "we" an act of solidarity or an act of appropriation?

d) Write a 500-word essay comparing the three sources. All three are written by people with some connection to Appalachian or mountain culture (Frost through his college, Dickey through his Georgia roots, Vance through family heritage). What does each source assume about its audience? How does each source position the mountain person relative to the reader?

Exercise 2: The Stereotype Inventory

a) Create a comprehensive inventory of Appalachian stereotypes as described in this chapter. For each stereotype, identify: (1) its earliest known media source, (2) the major media products that reinforced it, (3) the assumption about mountain people it encodes, and (4) the political function it serves. Your inventory should include at least eight distinct stereotypes.

b) Now create a counter-inventory: for each stereotype, identify a documented historical reality that contradicts or complicates it. For example, the "isolation" stereotype is contradicted by evidence of Appalachian communities' deep integration into national and global trade networks. Use material from this chapter and from earlier chapters of the textbook.

c) Choose one stereotype from your inventory and trace its evolution across at least three media representations from different eras. How has the stereotype changed over time? What has remained constant? What does the evolution suggest about the changing needs of the audience that consumes these representations?

Exercise 3: Ruin Porn Analysis

a) Search online for "abandoned Appalachia" or "Appalachian ruins" or similar terms. Select three images that you find particularly striking. For each image, write a 200-word analysis that addresses: What is depicted? What is the aesthetic effect? What information is missing from the image? What story would you need to tell to give this image its proper context?

b) Now find three social media posts by Appalachian residents who are telling the story of their own communities. These might be TikTok videos, Instagram posts, YouTube videos, or blog entries. For each post, write a 200-word analysis: How does this post differ from the "ruin porn" images you found in part (a)? What information does it include that the ruin images exclude? How does the creator's relationship to the place change the nature of the representation?

c) Write a 400-word essay on the ethics of photography in marginalized communities. Is it ever appropriate to photograph abandoned buildings in Appalachia? Under what conditions? What responsibilities does a photographer have to the communities they photograph? How might the practice of ruin porn be transformed into a practice of ethical documentation?

Exercise 4: The Pity Industrial Complex

This chapter describes the "Appalachian pity industrial complex" — the system in which outsiders build careers by performing sympathy for Appalachia.

a) Identify the three mechanisms of the pity industrial complex described in the chapter (poverty tourism, nonprofit intermediaries, and academic extraction). For each mechanism, find a real-world example — a specific article, organization, or research project — that illustrates the pattern. You may use examples from this chapter or find your own through research.

b) For each example, analyze the incentive structure. Who benefits from the representation of Appalachian suffering? Who does not benefit? How does the incentive structure shape what stories get told and what stories get excluded?

c) The chapter describes the tension between "don't call us poor" and "we actually need resources." Write a 500-word essay in which you propose a framework for advocating for resource allocation without reinforcing stereotypes. How can an advocate describe genuine suffering without contributing to a narrative of dysfunction? Use specific examples from this chapter or from your own research.

Exercise 5: Media Representation and Policy

a) The chapter argues that media stereotypes have material consequences for federal policy and funding. Identify two specific policy decisions or funding allocations described in this textbook (from any chapter) that were influenced by how Appalachia was perceived by outsiders. For each decision, explain the connection between representation and policy.

b) Consider the War on Poverty (Chapter 23) and the ARC (Appalachian Regional Commission). How did the dominant media narrative about Appalachian poverty shape the design of these programs? What different programs might have been designed if the dominant narrative had been structural rather than cultural?

c) Write a 400-word policy brief addressed to a member of Congress who represents an Appalachian district. The brief should make the case for a specific investment (broadband, healthcare, economic development, or another area of your choice) using a structural framework rather than a cultural one. The brief should acknowledge the challenges without reinforcing stereotypes, and it should center the agency and expertise of Appalachian communities.

Exercise 6: The Reclamation Movement — A Debate

Organize a structured debate on the following proposition: "Social media has done more to change the national narrative about Appalachia than academic scholarship."

Preparation: - The affirmative team should gather evidence from the chapter's discussion of Appalachian TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube creators, focusing on reach, accessibility, and the power of personal testimony. - The negative team should gather evidence from the chapter's discussion of Appalachian Studies, Helen Lewis, Elizabeth Catte, and the scholarly tradition, focusing on rigor, depth, and institutional influence.

Format: Each team should present a 5-minute opening argument, followed by a 3-minute rebuttal from each side, followed by 10 minutes of open discussion among all participants.

Reflection (individual): After the debate, write a 300-word reflection on the relationship between academic scholarship and popular media in challenging stereotypes. Do they serve different functions? Can they reinforce each other? What are the limitations of each?

Exercise 7: Community History Portfolio — Media Audit

This exercise connects to the Community History Portfolio checkpoint for Chapter 35.

a) Conduct a media audit for your selected Appalachian county. Search the New York Times, Washington Post, and your state's largest newspaper for articles mentioning your county published in the last twenty years. Create a spreadsheet documenting: date, headline, topic, tone (sympathetic, neutral, condescending, alarmist), and whose voices are quoted.

b) Categorize the articles: How many are about poverty? Crime? Drugs? Natural disasters? Culture? Economy? Education? Healthcare? Something else? What patterns do you observe?

c) Now search social media for content created by residents of your county. Identify at least five posts, videos, or articles. Create a parallel spreadsheet documenting: date, platform, topic, tone, and the creator's apparent relationship to the community.

d) Write a 500-word comparative analysis: How does the outsider coverage differ from the insider accounts? What does each include that the other excludes? If a person's only knowledge of your county came from the outsider coverage, what would they believe about the place? If their only knowledge came from the insider accounts, what would they believe? Which picture is more accurate, and why?