BOONE—Appalachian Journal has released its fall/winter 2015 issue, which features the winning essay of the Appalachian Studies Association’s 2014 Carl Ross Award.
Zachary D. Swick received the award for his article on sustainable development titled “Adaptive Policy and Governance: Natural Resources, Ownership, and Community Development in Appalachia” in April 2014. The award honors Ross, who was a history professor and director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian at the time of his death in 1988.
Swick graduated from Appalachian State University in May with a master’s degree in Appalachian studies, with a concentration in sustainable development and a graduate certificate in geographic information sciences.
The journal is published by the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. The latest issue includes the articles “‘The Longing for Home,’ Appalachian Fiction, and Ron Rash” by Virginia Tech’s Emily Satterwhite and “The Subversive Theology of Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God” by Woods Nash, a postdoctoral fellow at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Medical School.
The issue reviews Anne Lewis and Mimi Pickering’s documentary film “Anne Braden, Southern Patriot” and includes Carmen Rueda’s review essay on Ron Rash’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and Thomas E. Douglass’ article on the “Bluebeard” serial killer in his review of Jayne Anne Phillips’ novel “Quiet Dell.”
Book reviewers discuss contemporary issues such as Appalachian identity in Matthew J. Ferrence’s “All-American Redneck,” Todd Snyder’s “The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity” and Jeremy B. Jones’s “Bearwallow: homosexuality in Appalachia in Jeff Mann’s Cub,” and regional healthcare in Robert L. Ludke and Phillip J. Obermiller’s “Appalachian Health and Well-Being.”
Other reviews range from scholarly works to literary fiction and poetry to folktales. East Tennessee State University history professor Steve Nash reviews T.R.C. Hutton’s “Bloody Breathitt: Politics and Violence in the Appalachian South” and documentary filmmaker Tom Hansell from Appalachian State University reviews Builder Levy’s photography book “Appalachia USA.”
Barry Whittemore discusses urban Appalachia in Tim Ezzell’s “Chattanooga.” Grace Toney Edwards comments on the contemporary literary anthology Appalachian Gateway. Jordana Long writes about Karen Zacharias’ first novel, “Mother of Rain,” winner of the Weatherford Award for Fiction. James Hamby comments on The Journals of Emma Bell Miles. George Ecklund writes about poet Llewellyn McKernan’s “The Sound of One Tree Falling” and Matthew Barrett on Kentucky’s former Poet Laureate Gurney Norman’s “Ancient Creek: A Folktale.” Paul Robertson reviews breakout author Jon Sealy’s first novel, “Whiskey Baron.”
Appalachian Journal features poems by William Jolliff, Michael McFee, Larry C. Simpson and Rachel Morgan. Simpson and Morgan appear in the journal for the first time. Twelve of the 24 writers in this issue are making their debut appearances in the journal.
New members of the journal’s editorial board are Anna Creadick and William R. Schumann. Creadick is a graduate of Appalachian, Boston College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Now an associate professor of English and American studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, she is the author of “Perfectly Average: The Pursuit of Normality in Postwar America” (2010), as well as a contributor to Appalachian Journal.
William R. Schumann is director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. He is a graduate of Appalachian and the University of Florida. His research focuses on the economic development of both Appalachia and Wales. Schumann is the author of Toward an Anthropology of Government: Democratic Transformations and Nation Building in Wales (2009).
The journal is available from the University Bookstore at Appalachian State University, the journal’s office in Belk Library and Information Commons, or online at http://appjournal.appstate.edu. One year subscriptions are $24.
About Appalachian Journal
Appalachian Journal, founded in 1972, is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed quarterly featuring field research, interviews and other scholarly studies of history, politics, economics, culture, folklore, literature, music, ecology, and a variety of other topics, as well as poetry and reviews of books, films and recordings dealing with the region of the Appalachian mountains.
About Appalachian State University
As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.
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