Everybody Lives Near Appalachia

Examining "Hillbilly Elegy"’s Impact on American Society

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3776/tpre.2021v11n2p113-117

Keywords:

Appalachia, hillbilly, culture, poverty, rural education

Abstract

Hillbilly Elegy has had a profound impact on contemporary views and opinions of Appalachia. In this review, the authors discuss this impact and provide key critiques that help readers make sense of the generalizations made in the book by placing Hillbilly Elegy in conversation with other contemporary Appalachian scholarship. The authors conclude that J. D. Vance has a right to tell his story but telling the story of the Appalachian people is more complex and nuanced than Vance acknowledges, and the authors caution readers to consider this when reading Hillbilly Elegy.

Author Biographies

Ricky Mullins, University of Virginia's College at Wise

Ricky Mullins, PhD, is an assistant professor of education at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. Mullins has published on technology use and integration in the social studies classroom. He has also published on supporting students in analyzing complex histories, such as the memory of the American Civil War. Given his Appalachian background, he is interested in place-based education within the context of Appalachia. He conducts workshops on place-based education, supporting social studies educators in learning how to use local historical sources and resources as a means to foster advocacy for and understanding of Appalachia. When considered in its totality, his work explores how to render social studies education more genuinely inclusive of all voices. rickydm1@vt.edu

Brooke Mullins, University of Virginia's College at Wise

Brooke Mullins, PhD, is an academic support math intervention coordinator at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise. Mullins has published a number of journal articles and conference proceedings and has presented at national, state, and regional conferences. Her research interests include students’ learning of mathematics at the elementary, middle, secondary, and undergraduate level. Her work also focuses on equity, diversity, and inclusion, such as investigating the gendered experiences of students in mathematics classrooms. A native of Central Appalachia, Mullins is also interested in place-based mathematics education. She is focused on identifying strategies that mathematics teachers can use to help students overcome barriers to learning, specifically in the Appalachian region. sbm3@vt.edu

References

Billings, D. (1974). Culture and poverty in Appalachia: A theoretical discussion and empirical analysis. Social Forces, 53(2), 315–323. https://doi.org/10.2307/2576025

Billings, D. B., & Blee, K. M. (2000). The road to poverty: The making of wealth and hardship in Appalachia. Cambridge University Press.

Catte, E. (2018). What you are getting wrong about Appalachia. Belt Publishing.

Eller, R. (2008). Uneven ground: Appalachia since 1945. University Press of Kentucky. https://doi.org/10.5810/kentucky/9780813125237.001.0001

Garrison, J. (2010). Dewey and Eros: Wisdom and desire in the art of teaching. Information Age Publishing.

Gorski, P. (2008). The myth of the “Culture of Poverty.” Educational Leadership, 65(7), 32–36.

Gorski, P. C. (2018). Reaching and teaching students in poverty: Strategies for erasing the opportunity gap (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

House, S. (2016). The road back: Appalachia as internal colony. Journal of Appalachian Studies, 22(1), 65–68. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.22.1.0065

Hutton, T. R. C. (2019). Hillbilly elitism. In A. Harkins & M. McCarroll (Eds.), Appalachian reckoning. A region responds to Hillbilly Elegy (pp. 21–34). West Virginia University Press.

Obermiller, P. J., & Maloney, M. E. (2016). The uses and misuses of Appalachian culture. Journal of Appalachian Studies, 22(1), 103–112. https://doi.org/10.5406/jappastud.22.1.0103

Pearson, S., & Wolfe, P. (2013). “The last bastion of colonialism”: Appalachian settler colonialism and self-indigenization. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 37(2), 165–184. https://doi.org/10.17953/aicr.37.2.g4522v766231r3xg

Vance, J. D. (2016). Hillbilly elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis. Harper Collins.

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Published

2021-11-09

How to Cite

Mullins, R., & Mullins, B. (2021). Everybody Lives Near Appalachia: Examining "Hillbilly Elegy"’s Impact on American Society. Theory & Practice in Rural Education, 11(2), 113–117. https://doi.org/10.3776/tpre.2021v11n2p113-117

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2021): Theory & Practice in Rural Education: Special Issue on Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity in Rural Schools and Communities

Section

Book/Media Reviews

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Copyright (c) 2021 Dr. Ricky Mullins, Dr. Brooke Mullins

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Articles will be published using a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Sharealike license. (For more information on this license, please visit the Creative Commons license page.) Please also note that the authors are explicitly granting permission for Academic Library Services to store a copy of the article in The ScholarShip, ECU's Institutional Repository under the terms of the current ScholarShip license. As a North Carolina agency, ECU contributes copies of all publications to the North Carolina State Archives.