This course offers an analysis of the political economy of the Appalachian region. It seeks to demonstrate that Appalachia is not a quaint, backward, anomalous region, but a startlingly concentrated example of the pervasive problems of American life, the effects of the American economic system, and the paradoxes of American values. The course begins with a brief overview of the history, culture, and status of the people living in the Appalachian mountains in light of the general American experience. It then examines the political economy of the region, focusing on the corporate sector, what has happened to the land, and nature of citizen resistance in the mountains. Guest speakers and films will complement course readings, lectures, and discussion. Music is used throughout the course to give voice to people's beliefs, frustrations, anger and hopes.

?The major objectives of the course are:

Ronald D. Eller. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1982. (E)

Steve Fisher (ed.). Class Reader for PS 203. (CR)

Steve Fisher (ed.). Fighting Back in Appalachia: Traditions of Resistance and Change. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1993. (F)

"The UMWA at 100: Looking Back, Looking Ahead." UMWA Journal 101
?(August-September 1990). (UMWJ) (To be distributed in class).

Additional reading may be assigned during the course.

Sept. 3 Introduction to the Course; The Development of the Concept of Appalachia

Sept. 5 Regional Diversity. Read CR, 1-21.

Sept. 10 Regional Diversity; The Concept of "Region." Read CR, 22-26; F, ix-x, 1-14; H, Preface & Chap. 1.

Sept. 12 The Concept of "Region"; The Study of Appalachia. ???Read CR, 27; F, 283-301; E, xv-xxvi; H, 10-35.

Sept. 17 ?The Study of Appalachia; History. Read E, Chap. 1; CR, 28-32; H, 38-46; UMWJ, 2-11.

Sept. 19?History. Read E, Chap. 2; H, 46-56; UMWJ, 12-19.

Sept. 24 ?History. Read E, Chap. 3; CR, 33-36.

Sept. 26?Culture. Read CR, 37-45; F, 245-61; H, Chap. 5.

Oct. 1?Family; Religion; Media. Read CR, 46-59; H, Chap. 6.

Oct. 3?Class. Read CR, 59-76; F, 263-81.

Oct. 8?Education. Read CR, 77-91; H, Chap. 7.

Oct. 15?Migration. Read CR, 92-105; H, Chap. 8.

Oct. 17?TEST

Oct. 22?Quality of Life. Read CR, 106-129.

Oct. 24?Quality of Life; Models. Read CR, 130-35 ; F, 151-64; H, Chap. 9.

Oct. 24-25 ? Appalachian Literary Festival

Oct. 29?Models. Read CR, 136-48; E, Chap. 4; H, Chap. 11.

Oct. 31 ?Models; Corporate Actors. Read CR, 149-71; F, 57-68.

Nov. 5?Corporate Actors. Read CR, 172-76; F, 165-94, 224-29;???UMWA, 38-46.

Nov. 7?Corporate Actors. Read CR, 177-81; E, Chap. 5; F, 69-83.

Nov. 12?Corporate Actors. Read CR, 182-87; E, Chap. 7; F, 230-41.

Nov. 14?Labor. Read CR, 188-89; UMWJ, 20-37, 47-63; F, 195-223.

Nov. 19?TEST

Nov. 21?Strip Mining. Read CR, 190-201; F, 17-30.

Nov. 26?Land Issues. Read CR, 202-15; F, 123-47.

Dec. 3 ?Federal Programs and Institutions. Read CR, 216-34.

Dec. 5 ?Resistance and Change. Read F, 85-121; CR, 235.

Dec 10 ?Resistance and Change. Read F, 31-55, 303-15; CR, 236.

Dec 12 ?esistance and Change. Read CR, 237-48; F, 317-36, 361-62.

Quizzes
There will be 14 unannounced 10-point quizzes on the assigned reading material. The lowest two grades will be dropped. There will be no make-up quizzes.

Tests and Final Exam
Format to be discussed in class.

Attendance
Students are expected to attend all classes and will be penalized for more than one absence (5 points will be deducted from the final grade for each absence over one). Students are expected to attend several designated Lyceum programs and/or film nights relevant to the course.

Class Discussion
There will be no formal class discussion grade. Yet you are expected to be prepared to discuss the assigned reading each day and discussion will be encouraged. Quality of class discussion will, under circumstances to be explained in class, be taken into account in deciding final grades.

Writing Project
The project consists of a journal and several short writing assignments, which will be assigned throughout the course.

JOURNALS

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What Journals Are Not

?Journals are not to be confused with diaries, notebooks, or class notes. Diaries usually do little more than log external events ("My parents came to visit this weekend...") with occasional personal comments regarding those events ("I wish they would come more often..."). Notebooks usually do little more than summarize readings ("The author concluded that..."). Class notes do little more than reflect activities and discussions which have taken place in class.

What Journals Are

?Journals frequently resemble diaries, notebooks, and class notes because the writer of a journal sometimes responds to external events, or reacts to the reading, or reflects on something which has been said in class.

?Journals, however, represent a distinctive kind of writing. First, they articulate intellectual pilgrimage and autobiography. Students engaged in writing journals find out very quickly that they are putting a very real part of themselves down on paper. To reveal something of one's thoughts and feelings is a very personal activity. It is such a personal activity that some students attempt to stay on a fairly objective level by "reporting" what they have read and thought (but still keeping an academic cocoon securely around them). Other students find out, however, that writing a journal becomes a more authentic enterprise when the writer does not pretend toward objectivity but lets "the self" speak as well.

?Second, journals provide an occasion for insights. Insights are those perceptions where an idea or fact integrates other materials or explains personal experience. The "light" suddenly dawns, and the pieces of a puzzle fall together for the first time! Insights may integrate intellectual understanding or personal experiences. The quest for and the articulation of such insights provide much of the excitement of keeping a journal.

?Journals also provide an occasion to raise questions. Journals offer an opportunity to record questions, to speculate on how to answer them, and to understand why the question has come about in the first place. Questions may document ignorance or curiosity, but when one knows why a question is important and what precisely one doesn't know, then there exists a significant kind of awareness.

?Third, journals represent a tether which binds a student to the subject matter of a class. By means of the journal, a student has an ongoing opportunity to respond to class activities, react to assigned readings and outside speakers, engage in "dialogue" with comments the instructor has made, and explore various perspectives on the subject matter of the class as these appear in newspapers, magazines, and on film. In contrast to a research paper, which may be done in a short period of time, a journal provides a semester- long format for interacting with the subject matter of a particular class.

The Contents of a Journal

?The contents of a journal are limited only by the subject matter of the course and the writer's creativity, imagination, and breadth of experience. As a result, a journal often includes a variety of materials: personal reflection, comments on lectures or class discussions; reactions to films, tapes, newspaper and magazine articles; insights gained from readings and conversations; personal work, cartoons and poetry; extended statements on issues of personal conscience.

Guidelines for Journals

2.?Make frequent entries in your journal. Productive journals contain entries made through the semester, with an average of 2-3 entries per week (minimum of 2 per week).

3.?Date your journal entries. This is helpful if at a later date you want to return to a topic you have previously discussed, or if you want to make a comment about one of your entries. Number your pages.

4.?If the entries are to be handwritten, they must be legible. As you write, remember to be compassionate toward at least one of your readers (me) by writing clearly, in some semblance of order, and in black or blue ink.

5.?Do not be reluctant to put your thoughts on paper. I am not interested in unnecessary verbiage, but I am interested in your insights, questions, comments, criticisms, and discoveries.

6.?Use the journal as an opportunity for developing your own ideas about the subject matter taken up in class. For example, you may want to have several entries on the same subject to see if your thoughts change at various points during the semester.

7.?Periodically during the semester, read your journal entries and write a "summary" entry: see if particular themes have appeared in earlier entries; see if you are able to answer questions you raised earlier in the semester; see if you can arrive at any conclusions based on your previous entries.

8.?You must respond in your journal to all my written comments. These responses do not constitute separate entries.

9.?The journal is a central part of the course and will constitute an important part of the project grade. You must write regularly and follow the guidelines listed above. Bring your journal to class each day. I will collect the journal a number of times during the term. Five points will be deducted from the final course grade each time the journal isn't up-to-date or satisfactory when I collect it.