The Role Of Norms In Appalachia

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in the United States and the most photographed area was the Appalachia region. Many of the photographs intentional or not, became a visual definition of the Appalachia region. The images have drawn from the poorest areas and people to gain support for the war on poverty, but came to represent the entirety of the region. The point of the Looking at Appalachia project is to explore the diversity of Appalachia and to establish a visual counter point. (Home - Looking at Appalachia.) The three images I am going to analyze are challenge some of the stereotypes put on the Appalachia region. I believe my images challenge the stereotype that all Appalachian people do is work hard, go to church, and don’t have time for anything besides those two things.

The Amish is a group of traditionalist Christians that rely on simple living, plain dress and refuse to adapt to modern technology. The history of the Amish started in Switzerland in 1693 led by Jakob Amman. Today majority of the traditional descendants of the Amish live in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

This causes discrimination of the low-income student against a higher-income student. This discrimination more than likely causes a negative mental attitude towards his/her peers, which then causes a struggle with the student’s education. Student’s education thrives when the student is placed in an environment in which he/she feel safe and protected. The bullying and harassment is caused by the separation between low and high income families. The student now feels disconnected with their environment and stresses their social life rather than their education. Another example is that many children discontinued their education so they could work to provide for their families. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the Cunninghams are considered the “working poor”. Their family farm is the family’s means to survive, thus the whole family must contribute to the farm. Farm

When people think of America, they think of white picketed fences, the American dream, and white people living in suburbs. But most people don’t imagine poor, illiterate “hillbillies” (as they are often labelled as). Their upbringing in the household, thoughts on marriage and the like were divergent compared to the rest of the developed western world. This essay will promote the development of understanding the Appalachian people’s kinship and family life, why they practice certain customs and how it affects them. This essay will also take a closer look into why and how the lack of modern technology, low paying jobs/no jobs, media’s portrayal of how families are supposed to be and drug use has influenced the mountaineers and their families in regards to gender roles ,social life, marriage, divorce ,courtship and so on. In addition to that it will also look at the comparison between modern American households and family life to see what differences and similarities they have between each other.

Tony, Conner, and Vanessa grew up in different social classes but for the most part thats not the social class they wanted to live in. Conner grew up in a high social class with his mother always buying brand name clothing. When he got to Aspen Springs he said he wouldn’t have to worry about all the long aisle searches to find the right designer clothing with his mom, as he shoved his neatly folded clothes in to a drawer. Vanessa was raised up in a nice fancy house, while her mother was to busy popping pills to worry about the blood stained bath tub. Tony grew up homeless due to the fact his father abandoned him at a young age, while his mother slept with multiple men. Suicide is the main topic of this book and this is how many people think they can deal with the issues that they are going through just end their life so they don’t have to deal with it. A good example for individuals to cope with suicide is to seek treatment and help like the services that were provided for the three individuals in the book at Aspen Springs. Drugs is another big topic in this class. Most people who come from a home life of drugs are more likely to abuse them as well. As you can see from this book the main characters parent(s) had issues with drugs or related obsessive issues.

The book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz details the challenges two young boy’s face by being raised in the inner city housing project (Henry Horner Homes). These challenges stem from racism, discrimination, the social construction of reality, social location, social class, and the deviance theory, which is due to their location and influences (social control) at which causes many youths to lead a life of crime. The book focuses on the Conflict and Symbolic Interaction theories of sociology. What is the true cause of their struggle? Is it the run down smelly housing project completely taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings are an everyday thing, is their family, school, society, the system, race; or maybe it's because of the economical disadvantages. While others may argue, I believe that it isn't just one of these reasons; it's all of them all together.

The community 's role in providing important guidance and advice to the youth and ensuring negative influences such as crime and drugs are kept at bay protects the youth from leading such destructive lives. This role further reinforces the part played by family in inculcating the right values as the African Americans develop, positively influencing their ability to make appropriate decisions in their lives.

Another example of social inequality in Evicted was not in the housing market, but when Desmond witnessed a police officer harassing Arleen’s eldest son, Ger-Ger. Desmond describes the experience by saying, “I watched a police officer pull his patrol car up to Ger-Ger, Arleen’s eldest son, and say, ‘Man you’re fucked up!’...When I came out of the apartment for a closer look, the officer looked at me and drove away. He might have acted differently had I not been a white man with a notepad.” (P. 322). Desmond was not only witnessing inequality in the housing market, but also within the police department. When I read this, I could not believe that the police would rather harass a young black man than keep the streets of Milwaukee clean. Desmond witnessed this inequality firsthand, and I think he saw how unfairly these families were treated. In Hillbilly Elegy, Vance described a lack of social acceptance from the people in Middletown towards the people from Appalachia. Vance described the way that hillbillies handled many problems as “Hillbilly Justice.” This form of problem solving within their community was highly frowned upon by the suburbanites of Middletown. The culture of Appalachia was highly irregular, but that is not a reason to look down upon or discriminate against a group of people. J.D even described that when he was in Middletown, he

Wes Moore the author and other Wes Moore both experienced difficult childhoods. For the most part, their difficulties seemed to stem from choices that they made or choices other people made that affected them. As the book presented the situations, a lot of their problems seemed to be a result of choices rather than something like systemic racism, which is the opposite of what the video of the professor claimed. (WIVB) School seemed to be the only thing that could be considered a structural issue, yet they both skipped very regularly from a young age and never even gave it a real chance. They both lived in neighborhoods that were not the greatest, and even when their mothers moved them to different neighborhoods, they still found their way back to the “bad” parts of the city.

In the book Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina, education, and the lack there of, plays one of the largest roles in the character's lives. At this time in West Virginia, where the book is set, many children had to leave school and actually go into the coalmines, as Rondal Lloyd did, or work on the family farm. Racial ignorance is also a key element Giardina confronts in the novel. The characters, chief and secondary, equally cultural and racially bland, pass on their beliefs and therefore help to maintain the continuous circle of inequality that carries on even today. Political knowledge, at least on the national and state level, is also lacking within the little town of Annadel. With this

Summary of the contents: Fire in the Ashes is an intuitive and exciting book that details social justice at its core. The poor are getting poorer, the rich richer. Yet, when these children are faced with obstacles placed by a society who cares more about money than education, they prove that everything is circumstantial. In Jonathan Kozol’s coming of age novel, he depicts the stories of young men and women who grow up in some of the most destitute communities in the United States. Rape,

In Uneven Ground, the author Ronald D. Eller narrates the economic, political, and social change of Appalachia after World War II. He writes “persistent unemployment and poverty set Appalachia off as a social and economic problem area long before social critic Michael Harrington drew attention to the region as part of the “other America” in 1962.”(pp.2) Some of the structural problems stated by Eller include problems of land abuse, political corruption, economic shortsightedness, and the loss of community and culture; personally view the economic myopia as being the most daunting.

“The water reaches my thighs, pulls my legs, I turn to face the wall and stretch my arms wide”. (p293) This would be the last act of a man who fought for so much in his life for everything he loved. Denise Giardini’s “Unquiet Earth” is the epitome of Appalachian culture, true grit and undying perseverance in the heart of the mountains.

Traumatic experiences, difficult home lives, and the effect of drugs can leave a significant imprint on the rest of an individual’s life. The context which individuals are surrounded by during their developmental years has a significant impact on their mental health and development. In the documentary, The Bad Kids this idea is depicted through the portrayal of adolescence and early adulthood periods of the individuals at Black Rock Continuation High School. The film portrays the lives of at risk teens, who are given a second chance to get their life on track and earn a high school diploma. However, there are complications and set-backs that are holding them back from accomplishing their goals.

As an example, I will talk briefly about my cousin, born into a broken home and forced to deal with illiteracy on a daily basis. Steven was brought up in a bad neighborhood and raised by the streets. His family simply didn’t care about anything other than how they would afford their next bottle of booze or pack of cigarettes. Growing up, he was never told he had to go to school; therefore, he only went on occasion. His lack of schooling in his younger years took its toll on him by the time he hit high school. Living in a bad neighborhood and brought up by gangs, Steven’s life was in a bad condition.