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A Regional Rhetoric for Advocacy in AppalachiaMy background Why study advocacy?The studyA regional rhetoric for advocacy in AppalachiaImplications for rhetorical theorySo I'd like to start by introducing myself and my background as an impetus for this study. Then I'll explain why I chose to study the rhetorics of advocacy versus other forms or sites of discourse on Appalachia and the Appalachian problem. And then I'll briefly introduce each of the three sites in the study. Next, I will summarize the goal of a regional rhetoric for advocacy in Appalachia as it took shape through the analysis of the three sites. And finally, I will list some of the implications of this theory for rhetorical theory in general.1Being Appalachian

I am a native West Virginian. As you can see from this map, West Virginia is the only state that falls fully within the ARC's definition of the region. I grew up very sensitive to the inequalities particular to my hometown, state, and region. When I decided to pursue my Ph.D. it became my mission to investigate, draw attention to, and find solutions to these inequalities. 2Why Study Advocacy Efforts?To produce proactive transformations of discourse instead of reactive campaigns against the constant tide of destructive Appalachian stereotypes. To design a regional rhetoric that reconsiders definitions of Appalachia, Appalachian identity, and the Appalachian problem, contributes to the rhetorical agency of Appalachians, and provides a new model of rhetorical invention that considers the inseparable relationship between region and identity.

I chose to study advocacy efforts versus other sites of discourse on the Appalachian for several reasons, including my own personal desire to be a public advocate for Appalachia.

My hope for this study was that by examining how advocacy organizations and campaigns for Appalachia rhetorically construct Appalachian identity, I could design a new rhetorical approach to Appalachian advocacy that incorporates the best of their strategies and develops remedies to the problems in their approaches.

This regional rhetoric would produce proactive transformations of discourse instead of reactive campaigns against the constant tide of destructive Appalachian stereotypes, reconsider definitions of Appalachia and Appalachian identity, contribute to the rhetorical agency of Appalachians, and provide a new model of rhetorical invention that considers the inseparable relationship between region and identity.

3Research QuestionsHow do Appalachian advocacy organizations and campaigns rhetorically construct Appalachia using the three topoi for solutions to the Appalachian problem: assimilationist claims, preservationist claims, and abandonment claims? How does working from these three topoi construct Appalachian identity to the detriment or benefit of Appalachians? How can Appalachian advocates respond to these three topoi without reiterating stereotypical tropes of Appalachia, meeting the publics where they are and engaging them in an equitable treatment of Appalachia? With this goal in mind I developed the following research questions:

How do Appalachian advocacy organizations and campaigns rhetorically construct Appalachia using the three topoi for solutions to the Appalachian problem, which Appalachian scholar Henry Shapiro identifies as assimilationist claims, preservationist claims, and abandonment claims?

How does working from these three topoi construct Appalachian identity to the detriment or benefit of Appalachians?

How can Appalachian advocates respond to these three topoi without reiterating stereotypical tropes of Appalachia, meeting the publics where they are and engaging them in an equitable treatment of Appalachia?

4The Three SitesKentucky Moonlight SchoolsThe Urban Appalachian Council (UAC) and Appalachian Community Development Association (ACDA)Create West Virginia (Create WV)

To address these questions, I chose the following three sites of investigation. These sites are where Appalachian cultural identity is constructed, where both Appalachians and non-Appalachians, with different vested interests and cultural perspectives, interact. The time periods, locations, and types of organization at these sites vary: the Moonlight Schools were part of an early twentieth century literacy crusade in Rowan County, Kentucky; the UAC and ACDA are late twentieth century to early twenty-first century grassroots service organizations in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Create West Virginia is a grassroots educational and economic organization of the early twenty-first century. Although each vary in how they achieve their goals of resolving the Appalachian problem or improving life in Appalachia, either through literacy instruction, raising cultural awareness, or developing nontraditional educational and economic support, each are advocacy enterprises that offer different approaches to Appalachian identity.

Ultimately, an analysis of the rhetorics of Appalachia used in these three organizations demonstrates a chronological and geographical progression of discourse about how to solve the Appalachian problem, each engaging with three different commonplaces for rhetorical invention (or topoi) on discourse about the Appalachian problem.

From my analysis of the assimilationist claims used at each of these sites, I develop a rhetorical analytic for reading public discourse on Appalachians. This analytic can be applied to any discourse on the Appalachian problem. It identifies common assumptions undergirding claims about Appalachian identity and the Appalachian problem. It then provides specific rhetorical interventions informed by historical analysis and Appalachian cultural theory that can then be applied to refute each claim. This strategy shifts the focus away from the traditionally defined Appalachian problem poverty, illiteracy or low educational attainment, poor health, among many others-- that often leads to victim blaming rather than solutions to the real Appalachian problem(s) that I identify as cultural discrimination, uneven development, and extractionist ideologies.

5The Kentucky Moonlight Schools

In Chapter Two: Emancipating Adult Illiterates: Assimilationist Claims in the Benevolent Rhetorics of the Kentucky Moonlight Schools

I examine the textbooks and other writings of Cora Wilson Stewart, the founder of the schools, which taught basic literacy to adult students in order to in the words of Stewart, quote emancipate from illiteracy all those enslaved in its bondage. end quote. For Appalachians, literacy education is particularly political because writing and speaking are some of the primary markers of social, cultural, and economic identities used to discriminate against and disempower them.

In this chapter, I identify, deconstruct, and disprove the following assumptions that commonly undergird assimilationist claims about Appalachia:

Appalachians are culturally deficient, backward, other. Appalachians do not have cultural deficits or deficiencies. Cultural differences do exist, but are not monolithic nor negative. Cultural difference should be celebrated. However, what is commonly referred to as a cultural deficit is sometimes a social ill such as violence or poverty. These are not related to culture or some inherent Appalachian characteristic. They arise from structural inequalities.

Many or most Appalachians are illiterate, which is another indication of their deficiency and evidence that they need outside intervention. This claim is not only statistically inaccurate, it is reliant upon a narrow definition of literacy formed by the most privileged in society. It demonstrates that when cultural discrimination is unacceptable, discrimination against literacy levels stands in to allow further oppression of an already marginalized population. Lower levels of literacy or educational attainment in Appalachian arise not from cultural deficits but uneven development and cultural discrimination.

Appalachians are white with pure Anglo-Saxon heritage, which makes them capable of cultural redemption. Appalachians are of all races and ethnicities. Identifying them as one race erases this difference. This claim is also racist for assuming white superiority.

Education and literacy attainment are cures for the Appalachian problem of poverty. Education and literacy are tools, not cure-alls for any problems. They must be contextualized within Appalachian history and literacy studies rather than understood through popular beliefs about Appalachian illiteracy and the literacy myth. in the region.

Appalachians can and should be culturally assimilated through literacy education. Appalachians should not be culturally assimilated. Literacy curriculums can and should be used to foster cultural pride and knowledge of cultural heritage, especially for marginalized populations like Appalachians. 6The UAC and ACDA

In Chapter Three: Urban Appalachians in Cincinnati: Preservationist Claims in the Development of a Nostalgic Appalachian Culture for the Diaspora

I analyze the rhetorics of the Urban Appalachian Council and the Appalachian Festival held by the Appalachian Community Development Association. These advocacy organizations sought to raise urban Appalachian consciousness and combat the othering of Appalachian migrants and descendants in Cincinnati.

I demonstrate how promotional materials used by the UAC and the Appalachian Festival (also known as the Appalachian Handcraft Exhibition) rely on constructions of Appalachians as nostalgic others whose traditional culture should be preserved in order to build Appalachian ethnic identity. Thus from my analysis in this chapter, I identify, deconstruct, and disprove the following common assumptions about Appalachian identity and the Appalachian problem that undergird preservationist claims.

Appalachians are valuable for their traditional culture and ways of life that have remained the same for decades. Appalachian culture is not static, distant, and old. Appalachians are not the nostalgic other. Appalachian culture is alive, ever evolving, and part of life for all Appalachians. It is not monolithic. It is not exclusive to those who maintain the old ways of Appalachian life.

Appalachian culture is ahistorical. Traditional Appalachian culture can not be learned and valued through in a simple brochure or a large festival without positioning it firmly within its historical context, including individual crafts origins, evolutions, and current uses and practices. Concepts of tradition must be understood as always rhetorically constructed, not mirror reflections of reality. Appalachian culture or heritage is not true American culture, a treatment that reifies racial, ethnic, and regional stereotypes.

Observing Appalachian cultural production and consuming Appalachian cultural products are the best ways to foster strong cultural and regional identification. At events like the Appalachian Festival, to foster deeper cultural identification, encourage attendees to create and/or co-create Appalachian handcrafts and art with the exhibitors. Developing investment and ownership of Appalachian culture must go beyond viewing and purchasing artifacts at a craft fair. Although consumption is part of the equation for supporting Appalachian artists and handcrafters, consumption does not have the same interactive, appropriative, creative power as making the goods yourself.

Appalachian studies from the 1950s to 1980s are full and adequate representations and analyses of Appalachian history and culture. Explanations of Appalachian history, including racial and ethnic origins, migration, economic structure, and cultural features must be grounded in recent, widely accepted theories from Appalachian studies rather than outdated theories. Even Appalachian history from thirty years ago must be reframed into modern theoretical lenses that eschew past trends like relying on culture-of-poverty theory to explain the Appalachian problem.7Create West Virginia

In Chapter Four: Create West Virginia: Anti-Abandonment Claims for a Sustainable West Virginia

I study the rhetorics of Appalachian identity used by Create West Virginia (Create WV), which co-founder Jeff James calls a quote grassroots innovation economy development initiative that seeks to take(s) root in Appalachia and transform(s) empty post-Industrial Era boomtowns into sustainable, creative, prosperous communities end quote.

In this chapter, I explain how Create West Virginia counters claims that abandonment would resolve the Appalachian problem by supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, and ultimately, Appalachian agency. Unlike the other two advocacy efforts who are either fully or in large part invested in their given topoi, Create WVs work is in distinct contrast to the topoi of abandonment. From the anti-abandonment practices and ideologies of Create WV, I identify, deconstruct, and disprove the following common assumptions about Appalachian identity and the Appalachian problem that commonly undergird abandonment claims about Appalachia:

Appalachia has to embrace natural resource extraction for their economic survival. Extractionist ideologies and the process of uneven development that occurs in the peripheral regions like Appalachia inherently define Appalachia for its ultimate worthlessness and argue for its abandonment. Once the natural and human resources are depleted, theres no reason to remain there. According to extractionism, Appalachias worth lies in its supply of low-wage workers who must sacrifice their health, wealth, and happiness for sake of core regions.

Appalachians are poor because of the culture of poverty in the region. Understanding Appalachias economic history and debunking stereotypes about poverty in Appalachia can be accomplished by applying theories critical of uneven development and extraction. This modern scholarly reconstruction of Appalachian history is necessarily anti-abandonment, implying that Appalachia and Appalachian culture is worth saving, culturally, economically, environmental, and otherwise.

There is no way to lessen poverty in Appalachia/the only way to avoid the poverty in Appalachia is to abandon it. As organizations like Create WV demonstrate, areas impeded by uneven development and oppressed by prevailing extractionist ideologies can foster sustainable development. This involves investing in Appalachians social capital, encouraging their participation in knowledge and innovation economies, and preserving the regions land, water, and air. 8A Regional Rhetoric for Advocacy in AppalachiaA regional rhetoric for advocacy in Appalachia as an analytic for understanding public discourse on solutions the Appalachian problem and as a guide for productive and just rhetorical interventions in that discourse.By deconstructing and disproving the assumptions underlying these destructive commonplaces for invention or topoi on the Appalachian problem, I create a regional rhetoric for advocacy in Appalachia.

This rhetoric serves as both an analytic for understanding public discourse on solutions to the Appalachian problem and as a guide for rhetorical interventions in that discourse.I believe that this advocacy makes changes in the material realities of life in Appalachia by changing public discourse on Appalachia, Appalachian identity, and solutions to the Appalachian problem.

9Implications for Rhetorical TheoryThe function of place in rhetorical invention and reception.The integration of multiple theoretical frameworks and fields into a rhetoric specific to a particular region.The implications of a regional rhetoric for Appalachian advocacy also extend far beyond the Appalachian region. It questions how rhetorical theory functions without a significant accounting for the effects of place on the position from which rhetors speak and audiences receive arguments. It considers any place, any region and its histories, identities, and social structures as paramount to how we receive and construct arguments. Thus, my project lays the groundwork for rhetorical theory for other regions and populations by demonstrating how to integrate multiple theoretical frameworks and fields into a rhetorical analytic and rhetorical invention for a particular region. 10Implications for Rhetorical TheoryThe consideration of place/regional identity as rhetorical construction with an impact on discourse.The creation of a lens for understanding the significance of regional inequality in relation to other forms of inequality. It also considers place identity as a rhetorical construction that has an extraordinary impact on the invention of new discourse and interventions in existing discourse. Therefore, a regional rhetoric for advocacy in Appalachia calls on rhetoricians and rhetorical theorists to consider regional identities as key to any discussion of not just identity, but of rhetorical interventions in discourse.

And finally, this theory sets the stage for asserting regional inequality is just as significant as any other form of inequality.Appalachian studies and other regional studies are key component of understanding the many forms of inequality.

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