environmental voices: cultural, social, physical, and natural || introduction

Center for Appalachian Studies and Services/ East Tennessee State University

IntroductionAuthor(s): Garry BarkerSource: Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association, Vol. 4, ENVIRONMENTAL VOICES:CULTURAL, SOCIAL, PHYSICAL, AND NATURAL (1992), pp. 1-3Published by: Center for Appalachian Studies and Services/ East Tennessee State UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41445615 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 17:30

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Center for Appalachian Studies and Services/ East Tennessee State University is collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 17:30:08 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=etsucass

http://www.jstor.org/stable/41445615?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


Introduction

Garry Barker

Always, in Appalachian America, the land has dictated much of how life is to be lived. Physical isolation preserved cultural traditions; natural beauty built tourism into a major industry; rich mineral deposits have been both a blessing and a curse, providing income at the expense of damage to the environment; and the rugged terrain has hindered developmental efforts.

Education, health care, sanitation, housing, economic development, and other human services are much more difficult to provide to a sparse population so scattered among remote hills and mountains. In a region so blessed with abundant fresh water, timber, coal, and wild game, it was for years difficult even to imagine a day when it would begin to be used up, a day when there would be a need to focus on preserving a fragile environment.

In her keynote address to the fourteenth annual Appalachian Stud- ies Conference, Wilma Dykeman used her fictional character Clay Thurston, frustrated with the angry memory of how lush his North Carolina mountains once had been, to ask: "And what happened, Ivy? The greenness is gone. The woods aren't there, the water's ugly. What happened to it all?" (1966, 347)

"We happened to it, Clay," she said. "Papa cut it, sold it. We used it, lived on it. You did your share of hunting it clean. And Papa thought he was doing the right thing. We didn't think about it one way or the other. We happened to it, Clay" (347).

We happened to it, and now we must accept the responsibility for preservation and restoration. Appropriately, the 1991 Appalachian Studies Conference was dedicated to the memory of Harry M. Caudill, the outspoken Kentucky author/activist whose Night Comes to the Cumberlands alerted an entire nation to the economic and environmen-

Volume Four, 1992 1



tal problems in Appalachia, to the devastation of strip mining by absen- tee landowners, to the pollution of waterways, to the human degradation resulting from low levels of education, basic services, and economic activity.

The 1991 conference theme, provided by Warren Wilson College Environmental Studies director Woodward Bousquet, was "Environmen- tal Voices: Cultural, Social, Physical, and Natural," enhanced by Walter Prichard Eaton's words: "No hills amid which people have lived for long can be considered merely as geography, nor even chiefly as geography. They color the life which goes on in their valleys and on their slopes, and that life in turn colors them" (Eaton 1939, xiii).

The outpouring of proposals for panels, papers, and media presenta- tions forced some very difficult decisions upon the Program Committee, which had to take a limited amount of Conference hours and shoehorn in as much material as possible. Many excellent proposals could not be included; still, during most of the conference, there were eight concurrent sessions in every program slot.

Special events enhanced the theme. Wilma Dykeman set the tone with her keynote presentation, "We were the land's, before the land was ours." The premiere showing of "Cratis Williams: Living the Divided Life," Fred Johnson's documentary of the remarkable man who pio- neered the Appalachian Studies movement, reflected the influences of the land and culture upon this very caring, concerned human whose work and personality touched so many of our lives.

Anndrena Belcher's animated depiction of Emma Belle Miles - "Wings Again, Wide And Free" - brought to life the very heart and humanity of a liberating mountain woman trapped in a burdensome lifestyle but whose spirit - and wings - could never be stilled.

The Appalachian Studies Youth Conference presented concurrent programs, including a showcase for the projects and the young people who are Appalachia's future.

The bulk of the Appalachian Studies Conference, the programs, occupied over 350 participants for two days, and this Journal includes a small sampling of that diverse outpouring. Most papers are on file in the Appalachian Studies Association archives in Berea College's Special Collections; surely many of them will appear in print elsewhere.

The success of the 1991 Appalachian Studies Conference is, more than anything, a tribute to the growing stature and influence of the Appalachian Studies Association. The Program Committee laid the framework; Mark Sandlin of the Appalachian Consortium provided much of the necessary support during the preparation. The Berea College staff, from Director of Special Programs Mary Ann Murray to the students who gave up their spring break to do the work, provided excel-

2 Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association



lent services, from audio-visual to banquet preparation. Services/Facili- ties Coordinator Debbie Powell deserves the largest thanks; she pulled all the schedules, equipment, services, spaces, and staff into a complete, coherent package. Strong interest from President John B. Stephenson was crucial throughout the planning and staging of the Conference, and I must add special thanks to Ed Ford, Marty Hensley, Irmgard and Bill Best, Loyal Jones, John Lewis, Mary Abrams, Gail Cotter, and - most especially - the fifty or more Berea College students who worked so consistently and enthusiastically.

Finally, to Pat Arnow and the East Tennessee State University Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, we all owe thanks for the editing and publishing of this Journal.

Works Cited

Dykeman, Wilma. 1966. The Far Family . New York: Holt, Rhinehart, and Winston.

Eaton, Walter Pritchard. 1939. The Berkshire Hills . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

Garry Barker is Assistant Director/Marketing Manager for the Berea College Student Crafts Program and author of six books, including The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990. He served as program chair for the 1991 Appalachian Studies Conference and as guest editor of the 1992 Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association.

Volume Four, 1992 3



environmental voices: cultural, social, physical, and natural || introduction

Documents