This is a collection of scholarly essays most of which are separated by a poem by bell hooks from her Appalachian Elegy. This innovation is one of the strongest features of this book, but sadly the Table of Contents ignores the poems until the very end. The authors of the essays include some of the strongest established and new academic voices in Appalachian Studies. In addition to her six poems, bell hooks provides an essay. Others include John Gaventa, Emily Satterwhite, Barbara Ellen Smith, and Elizabeth S.D. Engelhardt. Topics focus on how place intersects with art and music, gay life, politics, foodways, globalization, power, masculinity and home. The book ends with incisive brief essays by seven teachers on “Teaching Region.” "Overall, this book offers a provocative reexamination of Appalachia and place." – Choice. "Appalachia in Regional Context: Place Matters... highlights tensions within the field of Appalachian studies, particularly tensions rooted in the diverse political, economic, and epistemological paradigms... Gathering previous talks, panels, and parts of larger projects, Billings and Kingsolver weave them together in a way that urges the reader to make new connections between familiar yet often distant texts." -- Journal of Southern History. The editors are long-time leaders of the Appalachian Studies community. Dwight Billings is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Kentucky (UK) and Ann E. Kingsolver is a current anthropology professor at UK. Both are the authors of several seminal books about the region.
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, a 2020 paperback reprint of a 2018 hardback release. 255 pages with an Index, photos, and notes at the end of each essay. Trade paperback.