Winner of the Kniffen Award and an Honorable Mention from the
Professional and Scholarly Publishing Awards in Sociology and
Anthropology
Appalachia may be the most mythologized and misunderstood place in
America, its way of life and inhabitants both caricatured and celebrated
in the mainstream media. Over generations, though, the families living
in the mountainous region stretching from West Virginia to northeastern
Alabama have forged one of the country's richest and most distinctive
cultures, encompassing music, food, architecture, customs, and language.
In Appalachian Folkways, geographer John Rehder offers an engaging and
enlightening account of southern Appalachia and its cultural milieu that
is at once sweeping and intimate. From architecture and traditional
livelihoods to beliefs and art, Rehder, who has spent thirty years
studying the region, offers a nuanced depiction of southern Appalachia's
social and cultural identity. The book opens with an expert
consideration of the southern Appalachian landscape, defined by
mountains, rocky soil, thick forests, and plentiful streams. While these
features have shaped the inhabitants of the region, Rehder notes,
Appalachians have also shaped their environment, and he goes on to
explore the human influence on the landscape.
From physical geography, the book moves to settlement patterns,
describing the Indian tribes that flourished before European settlement
and the successive waves of migration that brought Melungeon,
Scotch-Irish, English, and German settlers to the region, along with the
cultural contributions each made to what became a distinct Appalachian
culture. Next focusing on the folk culture of Appalachia, Rehder details
such cultural expressions as architecture and landscape design;
traditional and more recent ways of making a living, both legal and
illegal; foodstuffs and cooking techniques; folk remedies and belief
systems; music, art, and the folk festivals that today attract visitors
from around the world; and the region's dialect. With its broad scope
and deep research, Appalachian Folkways accurately and evocatively
chronicles a way of life that is fast disappearing.
