Appalachian Carpathian

International Conference:
Researching, Documenting, and
Preserving Highland Traditions
Transylvania University of Braov
October 6-9, 2015
Braov, Romania

Keynote speaker
DR. JOHN AKEROYD, Adept Foundation,
Saschiz, Mures, Romania

Book of Abstracts

Conference Board
Chris Baker, Walters State Community
College, Tennessee
Donald Edward Davis, University of the
District of Columbia, Washington DC
Rosann Kent, Director, Appalachian Studies
Center
University of North Georgia
David Kimbrough, Independent Scholar
Ann Kingsolver, Director, University of
Kentucky Appalachian Center, University of
Kentucky
Katherine Ledford, Program Director, Center
for Appalachian Studies, Appalachian State
University
Lou Martin, Chair, Department of History,
Political Science, and International Studies,
Chatham
University,
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Christopher Miller, Associate Director, Loyal
Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College,
Berea, Kentucky
Ron R. Roach, Chair, Department of
Appalachian Studies, East Tennessee State
University, Johnson City, Tennessee
Dan Shope, Independent Scholar
Georgeta Moarcs, Faculty of Letters,
Transylvania University of Brasov
Cristian
Pralea,
Faculty
of
Letters,
Transylvania University of Brasov
Organizing Committee

Donald Edward Davis, PhD

Dan Shope, PhD
Georgeta Moarcs, PhD
Cristian Pralea, PhD

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
DR. JOHN AKEROYD
Dr John Akeroyd is an English botanist. After
studying at the Universities of St Andrews
(BSc) and Cambridge (PhD), he was a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College,
Dublin, and the University of Reading, where
he prepared a 2nd edition of volume 1 of
Flora Europaea, standard text to identify
European wild plants. Since 1989 he has
been an independent scholar, consultant,
editor and writer, including work for the EU
Habitats Directive, the Bern Convention and
the Planta Europa network. He co-founded
and edited global plant conservation
magazine Plant Talk, is author or editor of
twelve books on botany, ecology and
conservation, and author of numerous
scientific and popular articles. He has
traveled widely and escorted many tour
groups in Europe, especially in the
Mediterranean region, and has a particular
interest in the floras of Greece, Ireland and
Romania.
In 2000 he first visited the Saxon Villages
(Trnava Mare) in southern Transylvania,
identifying this as one of Europes most
important
cultural
and
ecological
landscapes. Since 2004 he has collaborated
with Romanian, British and other European
3

colleagues in Fundatia ADEPT, based in

Saschiz, Mures County, researching and
promoting sustainable development and nonintensive but productive farming and
biodiversity conservation. He is author of
The Historic Countryside of the Saxon
Villages of Southern Transylvania (2006, also
available as Peisajul istoric al satelor ssesti
din sudul Transilvaniei), and is an Associate
Editor of the scientific journal Contributii
Botanice, Cluj. His other interests include
history, folk music and English nature
writing; he is Editor of the Journal of the
Henry Williamson Society.
Title of the Keynote Address:
Transylvania: Biodiversity, Living Tradition
and Future Prosperity

Redefining Traditional Family Farming in

the 21st century as the Most Sustainable
Solution for Food Security, Biodiversity
and Prosperity in Romanias Mountain
Regions.
RODICS GERGELY, Executive Director, PognyHavas Association, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
office@poganyhavas.ro
It is no coincidence that Romania has both
the largest number of small farms in Europe
and some of its highest agricultural
biodiversity. Scientists and visitors to our
region in the Eastern Carpathians of
Transylvania are amazed and delighted by
the abundance and quality of flowers,
butterflies and other wildlife to be seen
everywhere, and by the beautiful landscapes
with a mosaic of small fields and
meadows. Small scale family farmers are the
creators, owners and managers of this rich
heritage. Despite centuries of political
change and invasion at this historical eastern
boundary of Europe, its farming families and
their traditional farming methods have
proved resilient to social and economic
changes. Yet they now struggle to survive
the distorting subsidies, policies and markets
that currently favour industrial farming
without accounting for its pollution and
other damaging effects.
We describe an integrated, multidisciplinary
programme to understand, support and
5

conserve
the
natural
treasures
and
landscapes of the Pogny-havas region and
the farmers who manage them.In running
this programme, we have come to realise
that this traditional system of land
management is not just a historical treasure,
but could become the most sustainable
solution for food security, biodiversity and
prosperity in Romanias mountain regions in
the 21st century.

Finding Common Notes: Appalachian

and Oltenian Folk Music as the Basis for
a Cultural Exchange Program.
ALINA TITA, The Alexandu Stefulescu Gorj
County Museum, Trgu Jiu, Romania
ALINA GORUN, baccalaureate program,
University of Craiova, Faculty of Music,
Craiova, Romania
alina.eugenia.tita@gmail.com
The collaboration between the Clay Center
for the Arts and Sciences from Charleston,
West Virginia and the
Alexandru
tefulescu Gorj County Museum from Trgu
Jiu, started in October 2013, when the two
museums agreed on an idea for a project
traditional folk music, as a symbol of culture.
Over the following months, the project took
shape each museum had to find its team
made of museum staff, teachers, students
and folk music artists.
Common Notes Connecting Folk Cultures
through Technology was submitted in April
2014 and was awarded in June 2014. It is a
project that delves into the roots of folk
music in Romania and West Virginia, to
enrich the life of teens through music, a
language that has no boundaries. The project
was enriched with public and high-school
concerts,
digital
stories,
music
masterclasses, music mash-ups and cultural
exchanges, Skype video-calls, etc.
7

The Common Notes had three main goals:

To promote a deeper understanding of one's
own folk cultural heritage and identity; to
learn more about the cultural differences
between the two participating countries; to
use 21st century technologies in order to
increase digital literacy in support of the
previous two goals.

The Color of Hay and Concrete: The

Changing Aesthetics of Maramure
Peasants
KATHLEEN
LARAIA
MCLAUGHLIN,
M.F.A.,
Adjunct
Faculty,
Loyola
Marymount
University and the New York Film Academy
kathleen.mclaughlin@lmu.edu
kathleen@klmphoto.com
This presentation is a visual retrospective
based on Kathleen Laraia McLaughlins
fifteen-year
documentary
project
in
Maramure, Romania. The goal of the
project--which began in 1999--was to
personally witness and visually document the
traditions and cultural practices of the
Maramure rural peasantry. McLaughlin will
discuss the impact of modern life on
traditional farming practices, religious
ceremonies, folk costumes, and local fashion.
The peasant experience in Maramure is
similar to what agrarian peoples have
experienced elsewhere around the globe,
especially those communities that have come
into direct contact with urbanized cultures.
Like in many parts of the world, residents in
developing areas often want to catch up and
feel modern, and so no longer place value on
things they associate as primitive or
backward. In Maramure, one of the
consequences of this trend is the disregard
for traditional wooden homes, which are
often used for firewood or sold to foreigners.
In place of wooden architecture are large
concrete structures that loom over village
roads. Access to global culture also
influences the sensibilities of young boys and
girls, and is strongly reflected in the fashion
of young women. The emphasis on beauty
and clothing was recently only seen at
9

market or Sunday gatherings but is

increasingly visible on Facebook, where
village girls compete for the highest number
of likes. Not all cultural traditions are
devalued or on the wane, however, which
makes the study of 21st-century Maramure
life particularly intriguing.

10

Highland Music in the University:

Integrating the Teaching of Traditional
Folk Music into a Highland Studies
Department
RON ROACH, PhD, Chair and Professor,
Department of Appalachian Studies, East
Tennessee State University
roachr@etsu.edu
Folk music has long been recognized as a
distinctive feature of highland cultures
around the world. This is especially true of
both the Appalachians and Carpathians and
thus represents a major point of cultural
connection between the regions. Appalachia
is known as the birthplace of American
Country Music and also played a key role in
the development of bluegrass music and
American folk music. The Carpathians are
likewise home to a vibrant folk music
tradition reflecting a diversity of cultural
influences. In addition, some of the core
instruments in Appalachian and Carpathian
traditional folk music are identical, such as
the fiddle, guitar, string bass, and cimbalom
or hammered dulcimer. Romania is also
renowned as a center for the manufacture of
traditional musical instruments. Folk music
can play a key role in cultural preservation
and community development in highland
regions. Therefore, it is important that the
study of such music be integrated into
regional studies programs at universities.
11

However, this is rarely done and starting

such a program can be challenging.
This paper, by the chair of the Department of
Appalachian Studies at ETSU, which
developed the worlds first baccalaureate
program devoted to Bluegrass, Old Time,
Country, and Celtic Music, will discuss the
advantages and challenges of teaching
traditional folk music in a university. The
ETSU program, which currently enrolls
nearly 80 majors from 22 states and three
foreign countries, has benefited greatly from
its location within the highland studies
program at the university.

12

Bluegrass Music and Appalachia

Place, Land, and Imagination

in

LEE BIDGOOD, PhD, Department of

Appalachian Studies
East Tennessee State University
bidgood@etsu.edu
The word "Bluegrass" has helped to evoke a
sense of place since this term was adapted
from its geographic designation (a region in
the state of Kentucky) to refer to music made
and propagated by Bill Monroe. While many
scholars and fans connect the bluegrass
genre to Appalachia, there are many
performers and other participants who take
part in global bluegrass-related "musicmaking," far away from rural US locales.
Bluegrass as a social trope emerged from
and speaks to experiences of dislocation and
transience, as musicians, audiences, and
other
stakeholders
have
used
and
transformed it, both in US and international
expressions. This presentation explains how
bluegrass
musical
projects
afford
participants with interpretations and resoundings of place. I use ethnographic
narratives, analysis of US and Czech
bluegrass recordings, and key music
scholarship to introduce some patterns that
emerge in ways of knowing bluegrass music
and the sorts of places it can evoke-Appalachian and otherwise. Forms of
explanatory knowledge in technique, stage
talk, and use of technology pose bluegrass as
13

both linked to certain places, and as open for

interpretation and translation into new
situations.
Bluegrassers
place
great
emphasis on biological metaphors in
"placing"
bluegrass
music,
both
in
illustrating stasis and mobility in the music.
In considering place and bluegrass music, I
address concerns about American music and
its links to society and the land, but also add
to the general understanding of the
intersection of place, nature, and meaning.

14

Crafting Music in the Mountain State:

Instrument Makers in West Virginia
JASPER WAUGH-QUASEBARTH, University of
Kentucky Department of
Anthropology/Appalachian Center
jasper.waugh@uky.edu
Handcraft and music have historically
figured as prominent themes in the
representation of Appalachia to national and
global audiences and continue to do so in the
regions well-visited craft centers and music
and craft festivals. This paper serves as an
introduction to the state of musical
instrument craft in the Appalachian state of
West Virginia and a sampling of makers
currently engaged in the craft. In addition to
presenting the variety of instruments
produced in the state such as banjos, guitars,
steel drums, and electric basses, this paper
explores how instrument makers in West
Virginia think of their craft as influenced by
the mountain settings in which they live.
Beliefs about characteristics of mountain
people and mountain life, social and
community relations, and the physical and
natural environment of the state will be
discussed in the context of making and
repairing musical instruments. Furthermore,
this paper examines the craft materials and
instruments globally connecting makers to
sites of production and consumption,
including sources of instrument-quality
15

hardwoods
such
as
the
Carpathian
Mountains. This presentation will be of
interest to those seeking to learn more about
music, craft, craft materials and commodity
chains, and mountain identity in Appalachia.

16

Mountain Tales: Comparing Appalachian

and Carpathian Travel Writing
KATHERINE E. LEDFORD, PhD, Program
Director, Center for Appalachian Studies,
Assistant Professor of Appalachian Studies,
Appalachian State University
http://appstudies.appstate.edu/
The literary genre of the travel tale operates
within certain tropes--adventure, hardship,
exoticism, and transcendence, to name a few.
The mountain travel tale, additionally, invites
readers to share in the writer's exclusive
access to a sublime mountain landscape of
precipes, gourges, cataracts, and long-range
vistas. Likewise, mountain travel writing
encourages readers to view inhabitants of
mountain
spaces
as
simultaneously
backward, ignorant, and dangerous AND
romantic, simple, and close to the land. In
this paper, I argue for the adoption of a
critical category of "mountain tale," similar
in importance and scope to "sea tales," by
examining
travel
writing
about
the
Appalachian and Carpathian Mountains. This
literary sub-genre participates in national
identity formation through a concomitant
demonization
and
romanticization
of
mountain landscapes, mountain animals, and
mountain people, marking some territories-physical as well as cultural--as worthy of
inclusion in the body politic.
17

Land of Stone, Land of Gold.

Life in the Apuseni Mountains as seen in
Inter-war Journalism
ROMULUS
BUCUR,
University, Braov
r.bucur@unitbv.ro

PhD,

Transilvania

This paper analyzes a famous reportage,

written and published in the 1930s by avantgarde poet and then journalist, Geo Bogza,
under the name ara de Piatr [The Land of
Stone]. It records the everyday life of its
inhabitants, their strong character, forged in
the struggle with the mountain, and the
exquisite beauty of these places, paralleled
with the moral beauty of the people
inhabiting them.
.

18

Pathways to the Baccalaureate: The

Influence of Cultural Norms and
Multiple Roles on the Educational
Persistence of Women in Appalachia
Kentucky
NANCY PRESTON, EdD, Regional Campus
Director
Morehead
State
UniversityAshland,
Kentucky
n.preston@moreheadstate.edu
This presentation will explore the ways in
which location-bound women in Appalachia
Kentucky
perceive
possibilities
and
challenges
to
their
baccalaureate
attainment. The Appalachian region of
Kentucky has a history of severe and
persistent poverty and also has one of the
lowest rates of educational attainment in the
country. While community colleges are often
accessible to students, transfer institutions
are much less accessible to place-bound
students. This presentation is based on a
study of graduates of four Appalachian
community colleges and their transfer and
retention to the baccalaureate. The results of
qualitative research that focus on the
experiences and perceptions of adult female
students who maintain multiple life roles will
be
explored.
Major
topics
of
this
presentation include: (1) Ways in which
Kentucky Appalachian female students are
both challenged and supported by their
19

major life roles, (2) The perceived influence

of cultural norm on female Appalachian
students,
and
(3)
Ways
in
which
postsecondary institutions provide both
support and challenges to this population.

20

Intersecting Identities: Youth and

Community Sustainability in the
Appalachian Region of the United States
ANNA RACHEL TERMAN, PhD, Department of
Sociology & Anthropology
Ohio University
terman@ohio.edu
Community sustainability in the Appalachian
region of the U.S., like in many rural
communities in developed countries, is
threatened
by
processes
of
deindustrialization, economic restructuring,
and globalization. In the midst of these
macroscopic social changes, young people in
Appalachia are often compelled to leave the
region for urban centers due to economic,
social,
and
environmental
concerns.
However, there is also evidence of a growing
movement of young people who are deeply
invested in their Appalachian communities.
At the same time, these young people
negotiate a place identity that intersects
with gender, race, class, and sexuality
identities, which can seem at odds with the
norms
of
their
communities.
Using
qualitative data collected from interviews
and focus groups with young people living in
Appalachia, I will discuss the ways in which
gender, race, class, and sexuality influence
young adults place identity in Appalachia
and their relationship to their community,
environment, and region. My findings
21

destabilize metronormative narratives that

perpetuate the idea that young people,
especially marginalized youth, should leave
rural places for large urban centers and
shines a light on the struggles and
perseverance of youth in Appalachia as they
confront questions of individual success and
community
well-being.
Through
this
presentation I will contribute information
about the extent to which young people are
able
to
negotiate
experiences
of
marginalization in order to ally themselves
with people and places for economic, social,
and environmental sustainability.

22

Patterns of Intercultural Communication

in Rural Transilvania: A Case Study of
the Cata Village.
ELENA BUJA, PhD, Associate Professor of
English, Hankuk University of Foreign
Studies, South Corea
elena_buja@yahoo.com
ADRIAN LESENCIUC, PhD, Henri Coand Air
Force Academy, Braov
a.lesenciuc@yahoo.fr
This
paper
studies
the
patterns
of
communication among the ethnic groups
living in the Transilvanian rural district of
Caa, aiming at identifying the peoples
openness to communication and the nonconflictual nature of the dialogue in this
rural area. The framework employed in the
analysis
is
the
ethnography
of
communication,
more
specifically
Dell
Hymess (1971) interactional S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G
schema which covers a number of
constituent elements (setting, participants,
ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities,
etc.), each of them contributing to a complex
analysis of the data. The study is based on
data collected by the first author during two
periods (August September, 2012 and
January, 2013), using two instruments: the
participant observation and the interview.
The participants are representatives of four
ethnic
groups,
namely
Romanians,
23

Hungarians, Germans and Roma people. The

findings of the analysis show that the interethnic communication in the rural area of
Caa is non-conflictual and non-exclusive due
to the peoples openness to adapt to the
others and that the limitations of the
intercultural dialogue are rather suggested
by the administrative authorities and the
national
ethnic
organizations,
whose
divergent interests still exert useless,
artificial pressure on the community
members.

24

Cold Mountain From the Book to the

Film
MIHAI IGNAT, PhD, Transilvania University,
Braov
ignat.m@unitbv.ro
The present study aims at analyzing the
novel Cold Mountain by reference to its 2003
film adaptation. Based on the Odyssey
archetype, that is identifiable in the
structure of the novel, the investigation
marks ethnographic and culinary habits and
superstitions, as well as the mythology of the
mountain. Given that we can focus not only
on the literary, narrative and descriptive
qualities of the novel, but also on the
veracity
of
the
Civil
War
period
reconstruction, specific features of the two
types of art literature and film will be
highlighted through this comparison of the
two works: the novel Cold Mountain and,
respectively,
the
homonymous
film
adaptation.

25

The European Brown Bear an

Ethological and Linguistical Approach
ION MICU, PhD, Transilvania University,
Braov
CORINA SILVIA MICU, PhD, Transilvania
University, Braov
micucorinasilvia@yahoo.com
People's relationship with the brown (not
Carpathian as a lot of people call it) bear on
Romanian territory dates probably from the
construction of the first human communities.
The presence of its image can easily be
spotted in our language, ranging from
comparative structures as: clumsy like a
bear, grumpy as a bear, strong as a bear, be
as big as a bear, to idioms like being
attracted to honey as the bear is (a trage ca
ursul la miere) etc.
This article aims to present the bear by
exploring some ethological issues which are
specific in the contemporary relation
established with both the human factor and
the representation man has built in
connection with the great mammal, a
representation so strong in the collective
imagination that sometimes serves in speech
for
physical
or
psychological
characterization.

26

Sleeping in Perpetual Shadows: The

Polyphonic Perversities of Suttree
SUDIPTO
SANYAL,
PhD.,
University, Kolkata, India
sudipto.sanyal@gmail.com

Techno

India

A slow voice of Appalachian ruin rumbles out

of Cormac McCarthys sprawling, messy
novel of 1979, Suttree. Set in both rural and
urban Appalachia, and densely marked by
spatial representations of wilderness (and
wildness), Suttree is a book with rude,
startling power and a flood of talk, as
Jerome Charyn once described it. Indeed, the
sheer breadth of marginal voices that chatter
the narrative into being is astonishing
misfits,
gamblers,
hookers,
junkmen,
hermits, drunks, thieves, gravediggers,
transvestites and neer-do-wells galore an
almost Shakespearean cast of characters on
the margins of society, of geography, of life
itself.
This heteroglossia is always intimately
connected to its contexts, geographical,
social, cultural and, indeed, economic.
Suttrees gallery of grotesques expresses,
through grandiose gestures and baroque
voices, thrice-inflected Othernesses. These
are all characters on the margins of society.
They are also on the historical margins of
geography, an Appalachian country that was
geographically isolated till the middle of the
nineteenth century. At the same time, these
27

characters are citizens of the third world,

trapped within the developed New World.
Thus there is confusion, overlapping voices,
a jumble of movement, attempted moorings
and weighings of anchor. This paper will look
at some of these aspects and try to note the
many movements such states of messy
polyphony and marginalization bring about.

28

Incomplete Analogies and Heimat

Reconstruction in Immigrant Mountain
Cultures
TUDOR B. IONESCU, PhD., University of Vienna
tudor.b.ionescu@gmail.com
RUXANDRA M. ZOTTA, University of Natural
Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
ruxandra.zotta@students.boku.ac.at
In social and cultural studies, the term
Heimat (German for home, homeland, or
native land) is sometimes used to denote an
imaginary associated with places of origin
and moments from ones individual or
collective past to which people feel
emotionally attached. As such, Heimat does
not simply mean home; nor does it suggest
nationalism or patriotism. Rather, it is an allencompassing notion for material, natural,
and social expectations, perceptions, and
representations of the mundane world in
which one lives.
We refer to Heimat reconstruction as the
attempt by immigrants to revive habits,
rituals,
and
structures,
which
are
reminiscent of a place and time left behind.
Heimat
imaginaries
are
nurtured
by
memories as well as by external stimuli,
which can be as simple as a street corner, a
river, a familiar odor, or a friendly glimpse.
Therefore, Heimat reconstruction takes
29

different forms in different socio-cultural and

natural environments.
In this paper, we hypothesize that Heimat
reconstruction
is
mostly
driven
by
incomplete analogies between impressions of
the experienced and elements from the
immigrants new socio-cultural and natural
living environment. We see patterns of
perception as the main enablers of such
analogies. Patterns of perception can be
natural or social; material or abstract. Using
examples
from
Lower
Austria
and
Transylvania, we produce an account of how
Heimat reconstruction can be driven by
incomplete analogies between ones past and
present living environment.

30

Geography is Destiny Revisited: New

Theoretical Perspectives on Culture and
Environment
CAIUS DOBRESCU, PhD, University of
Bucharest, Romania
caius.dobrescu@gmail.com
The paper attempts a quick survey of the
transformations of the relevance attached to
geographical determinism, over the last
decades. From severe rejection on the
grounds
of
its
allegedly
inescapable
entanglement with the Fascist blood-and-soil
ideology, and its consequent the repudiation
from
social
thought,
geographical
determinism
was
rediscovered
and
reinvented via both environmentalism and
anthropology of imagination. Currently, it is
commonly held in many walks of the
humanities that the interaction of mind and
space plays a formative role for both
pragmatic and expressive culture.
As a test case, the paper explores the
implications of this new intellectual context
for allegedly outdated theories of space and
spatiality proposed in the 1920s by
Romanian philosopher and poet Lucian
Blaga.

31

A Reading from The Safety Seat

S. WHITNEY HOLMES, Poet, US
s.whitney.holmes@gmail.com
The
Safety
Seat
investigates
the
socioeconomic consequences of exploiting an
areas natural resourcesits people among
themuntil the work/resource is dried up
and the people must find another way to stay
alive. The Safety Seat is a collection of
nonfiction poems inspired by a real-life event
that is not all that surprising in the
Appalachian region: fraud. After a holiday
weekend
picnic
in
the
Appalachian
Mountains, a family driving in a four-door
sedan is struck head-on by a pickup truck,
the impoverished driver of which intended
not to harm anyone, but rather, to make it
appear as though the accident was the other
cars fault in search of an insurance payout.
The accident is poorly executed and the
familymy familyis seriously injured and
traumatized. Several years later, the
youngest member of the family looks back on
the events in an attempt to processand
forgivethe unique circumstances that the
landscape and the economic realities of the
region play in this event. In this reading
presentation, the author will perform
selections from the text, which incorporates
poetry, photography, interviews, and court
documents to build a narrative of tragedy,
32

empathy, and forgiveness in the Appalachian

Mountains.

33

Rendering Appalachia: Three Female

Poets and regional politics (Muriel
Rukeyser, Irene McKinney, S. Whitney
Holmes)
JEREMY HAWKINS, Ecole Suprieur de
l'Architecture de Strasbourg, France
jeremyhawkins@gmail.com
American male poets, such as James Wright,
often wrote of Appalachia with a kind of
Boetian melancholy, the scene of folksy idyll
to be relished, exaggerated, or elegized.
American female poets, however, have
represented the region in more definite
terms, giving Appalachia lyrical identities
that connect to underlying ideological
approaches to regional politics, relying less
on folkisms as decorative elements in their
work, and carving out a singular space for
Appalachia in the modern canon. Muriel
Rukeyser's
poetics
helped
establish
Appalachia as a site for struggle, where the
documentary and the imagistic weave
together to make visible the tragedy of
exploited
mining
communities.
Irene
McKinney's intimate lyric, however, brought
Appalachia into the close, meditative spaces
of mainstream post-confessional American
poetry, rendering it familiar and safe. S.
Whitney Holmes' work this decade, though,
has revived the otherness of Appalachia,
evoking dark surrealist passages and
disarming forms of address to reclaim the
34

region's singularity. This presentation will be

a brief but close reading of three female
poets who have each provided radically
different representations of Appalachia, each
of which can be correlated to varying
ideological moments in regional politics: to
render visible and problematic; to render
familiar and safe; and to render singular and,
therefore, valuable.

35

I once saw the day break from the top

of Saddle-back Mountain in
Massachusetts: Henry David Thoreaus
Climb of Mount Greylock in A Week on
the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
IULIU RATIU, PhD, Independent Scholar
iratiu@gmail.com
According
to
Wikipedia,
Saddleback
Mountain/Mount Greylock is the highest
natural point in Massachusetts. Situated in
the northwestern part of the state, the
mountain is traversed by a network of hiking
trails, including the tail end of the
Appalachian Trail. Created in 1898, Mount
Greylock
State
Reservation
was
Massachusetts first public land used for the
purpose of forest preservation.
In July 1844, on route to the Catskill
Mountains in New York, Henry David
Thoreau climbed Saddleback Mt. (now
Greylock), an experience he later described
in his first published book A Week on the
Concord and Merrimack Rivers, whose
manuscript he wrote during his stay at
Walden Pond between 1845 and 1847. In my
paper,
I
plan
to analyze
Thoreaus
description of the climb and cast the ascent
as a predawn meditation (Lawrence Buell)
in the Romantic (Wordsworthian) tradition of
a quest for the sacred and for the sublime.

36

Response and Consequence: The

Asheville Flood of 1916
ANTHONY DEPAUL SADLER, M.A. student
Appalachian State University
sadlerad@appstate.edu
The disastrous Southern Appalachian flood
of 1916 was no Act of God. The actions of a
few powerful white men and women added
to the severity of the disaster. It ignited
broad social discord and challenged the
hegemony of Ashevilles elites. The socioeconomic priorities of city leaders shifted.
Tourism received the full support of
Ashevilles government leaders as riverbased industries declined. As a result,
hundreds of laborers, both black and white,
lost their jobs, homes, and places in society.
Forced by circumstance, they joined nationwide migrations to the West and North. This
story is about class, race, and the rise of
industrial capitalism in America. It also adds
to historiography detailed analysis of the
natural disasters that shaped regional socioeconomies. The disaster both unveiled and
altered a complicated socio-economic system
during a crucial period of transition. In 1916,
Asheville boasted a balanced economy
supported by old and new industrial
pursuits; the mills and rails that spawned
industrial growth and the tourist trade that
became synonymous with the city by the
1920s. Yet, by the 1930s, Asheville suffered
immensely during the Great Depression
because of that period of unwarranted
speculation from which the city never
recovered. This study discusses the futility of
the belief in the boundless potential of the
environment, wealth, and social power
structures in early twentieth century
37

capitalist
societies.
Ashevilles
leaders
responded conservatively to the flood, which
led to further marginalization of vulnerable
segments of the population and industries.

38

Town Building and Town Persistence in

Virginias Blue Ridge: Lessons from the
Past and for the Future
BARRY WHITTEMORE , PhD, University of North
Georgia
Barry.whittemore@ung.edu
In the late 19th/early 20th century, a number
of towns came into existence in Virginias
southern
Blue
Ridge,
which
is
the
metamorphic rock/non-coal bearing portion
of Appalachian Virginia. Some towns
persisted, some dwindled, while others
vanished. The patterns which emerge from
these town histories not only tell us a story
of the past, but also offer us, perhaps, a
cautionary tale for the future. I consider
eight towns: two county seats Hillsville and
Independence, two timber towns Troutdale
and Damascus, two iron mining towns
Sylvatus
and
Ivanhoe,
and
two
manufacturing towns Fries and Galax; all in
or near the counties of Carroll and Grayson.
Three factors appear to predict their relative
success. First is the availability of modern
transportation, which for that time and place
generally meant railroads. Next is the
complexity of the economic base. Simple
resource extraction was the most tenuous,
while a manufacturing or governmental base
would bode well for their longevity. The most
significant factor appeared to be the
geographic source of the primary funding for
the town. There is an inverse relationship
between how far away the money came from
and how long the town persisted. Many
scholars consider Appalachian America to be
an internal colony. This is slightly less
obvious outside the coal belts. I have often
39

wondered or feared that post-Soviet Eastern

Europe might suffer a similar fate. Hopefully
we can learn from each others misfortunes
as well as profit from our successes.

40

Globalization and Family Farm Survival

in Southern Appalachia
CHRIS BAKER, PhD, Walters State Community
College
Chris.Baker@ws.edu
Small farming practices and local foods are
an essential part of cultural heritage and
rural development in Appalachia. However,
the survival of family farming is being
challenged by changing landuse patterns and
foodways linked to globalization. The
economic squeeze on small farming is being
accompanied by social problems linked to
declining
rural
opportunities
and
contemporary
unhealthy
lifestyles.
Addressing
the
challenges
of
rural
development requires one to revisit the role
of family farming in local economies of scale
and the policies supporting markets for local
foods and small businesses. I use interviews
and GIS data research to chronicle emerging
regional food markets and narratives of
family farms in upper east Tennessee. The
research
addresses
the
cultural
and
economic distinctions shaping markets for
local foods and the challenges farm families
face in the contemporary global economy.
The paper discusses the key locations and
social cleavages shaping emerging markets
for local produce -- including niche heirloom
tomatoes, tourism, and local consumption of
traditional foods. The research calls for
41

policies dedicated to linking the local

produce provided by family farms to cultural
heritage preservation and to addressing
social problems in rural communities. I
argue that expanding support for local food
is essential to sustainable development and
solving problems related to food deserts,
obesity, sustainable land use, education, and
poverty.

42

Arti-scapes: Uncovering Meaning in

Comparing the Material Culture of
American Appalachia and Carpathian
Ukraine
CHRISTOPHER A. MILLER, M.A., Loyal Jones
Appalachian Center, Berea College
(University), Kentucky
millerc@berea.edu
This project reports, in video documentary
form, findings from seven years comparison
of American Appalachia and Carpathian
Ukraine through consideration of the
material culture of both regions. Scholars
and tourists have often commented on the
similarity of Appalachia and Karpaty. In
2008, I began my own exploration of this
topic, considering primarily the extant
material culture of both regions. My
research
uncovered
many
interesting
differences and similarities in the material
worlds of both, but I found myself lacking a
basis for judging meaningful comparison and
determining when the results of comparison
are significant. I began to ask, "What does it
mean to say two regions are similar?" I
sought a theoretical framework to help me
address this question and found one in the
ideas of Critical Regionalism as expressed by
scholar Douglas Reichart Powell. Powell's
Critical Regionalism defines Region a
dynamic and generative construct. People
are constantly making and re-making Region
43

in their lives, and not just the inhabitants of

a region, but the outsiders too. Artifacts and
images are actors and props in this ongoing
drama. This theoretical framework gives me
ways to explore, describe, and discover
meaning in both similarities and differences
in the two mountain regions.

44

Documenting the Jewish heritage of the

Carpathians and chances of its use a
tourism attraction: the activities and
outputs of the project Shtetl Routes in
Western Ukraine
VIKTOR ZAGREBA, Project Manager at Center
for Social and Business Initiatives,
viktor@zagreba.com
IVAN ZINOVIEV, Executive Director at Center
for Social and Business Initiatives,
zivan@gmail.com
YURIY KARPIN, City Hall of Yaremche, Head of
the Department of Tourism, karpin@ukr.net
Shtetl Routes is an international non-forprofit project aimed at promoting cultural
tourism in small towns in the borderlands of
Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Belarus. The
project was launched in 2013 and covers 20
towns in Western Ukraine, five of which are
located in the Carpathian area. Extensive
research work of the Jewish history and
material landmarks in those towns revealed
an impressive layer of Carpathian heritage
that is poorly known and hardly appreciated
by the local communities nowadays.
Jews used to live in the towns and large
villages of the Carpathians and were well
integrated into local society and economy for
over 5 centuries. In many cases, they
represented
the
majority
of
town
45

populations. Before the Second World War,

Jews consisted some 90 percent of the
population in Kosiv, 30 percent in Delatyn,
78 percent in Bolekhiv, and so force. We call
those towns "shtetls", from the word in
Yiddish that means "small town". After WW2,
all Jews were perished, and all Poles were
forcefully relocated. The towns became
monocultural, and remain so till today.
What evidence of the Jewish presence still
exists in those Carpathian shtetls? How did
one community manage to preserve their
synagogue with all its furniture and books
through the WW2? How do modern
Ukrainians treat the Jewish past of their
towns? How can the towns that have rich
Jewish history capitalize on cultural and
heritage tourism? Those questions will be
answered in the presentation that will briefly
present the experience and outputs of the
"Shtetl Routes" project.

46

The Memory of Symbolic

Indeterminations The Founding
Legends of Rnov Citadel
RODICA MARIA ILIE, PhD,
University, Braov
rodicamariailie@gmail.com

Transilvania

ANDREEA CRISTINA IVAN, MA, Transilvania

University, Braov
ivanandreeacristina@yahoo.com
The aim of this research is to emphasize the
existence of a common cultural, social, moral
and
symbolic
foundation
among
the
members of the multi-ethnic community of
Rnov, a foundation which ought to be
exploited especially in the current context
oriented
towards
globalization.
The
prerequisite
of
the
aforementioned
capitalization
on
the
multifarious
consideration of ethnic identities without
eliminating differences, on the contrary, by
identifying the specificity, originality and
authenticity of cultural traditions, was
formulated not solely as a research objective
but it has been clearly stated by the
respondents despite the trauma, hardships
and barriers raised by history.
Well aware of the fact that the symbolical is
affected by a sometimes grotesque-derisive
and other times contingent-commercial
reallocation of meaning, that mentalities are
dynamically changing, the aim of our
47

research was to record the specific

attributes of the moral and symbolical
heritage of the Rnov community by means
of a critical-reflexive process of selection and
comprehension of what Maurice Halbwachs
termed symbolic memory.

48

Mossy Creek: A Folk-Pottery Settlement

in Georgias Appalachian Foothills
JOHN A. BURRISON, PhD, Georgia State
University

jburrison@gsu.edu
In the 1820s, following the Cherokee Indian
departure, traditional potters from North
Carolina began settling in the small farming
community
of
Mossy
Creek
in
the
Appalachian foothills of northeast Georgia.
It's not known what kind of ceramics these
pioneer potters first made, but by the 1830s
they and their offspring were embracing the
regional
tradition
of
alkaline-glazed
stoneware developed in South Carolinas
Edgefield District and likely inspired by
published accounts of similar Chinese highfiring ash- and lime-based glazes. Several
generations
of
Mossy
Creek
potters
produced jars, jugs, churns, and pitchers for
farm use before the Meaders family became
involved in the craft in 1892. Cheever
Meaders, the youngest of six potter brothers,
took over their fathers operation in 1920,
stubbornly potting his way through the Great
Depression until a tourist and collectors
market emerged. His wife, Arie, created a
new line of decorative wares appealing to
this new market, and in 1968 their son,
Lanier, took over the reins, combining his
fathers hand-skills with his mothers artistic
flair, making jugs with sculpted faces an
49

emblem of Southern folk art. Lanier died in

1998, but several relatives and neighbors
carry on today, with the work of the Meaders
family influencing every folk potter now
working in north Georgia.

50

The Making
of
a
Local
Collection
in
Mnzleti,
Romania

heritage
Buzu,

RZVAN GABRIEL POPA, Institute of

Geodinamics of the Romanian Academy and
Institute for Geochemistry and Petrology
ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
CIPRIAN FLORESCU, DIANA-ALICE POPA,
Institute of Geodynamics of the Romanian
Academy;
MAGDALENA ANDREESCU, RODICA MARINESCUFRSINEI, ANAMARIA IUGA, PhD, National
Museum of the Romanian Peasant,
Bucharest, Romania.
anaiuga@gmail.com
In July 2015 it will be inaugurated an
exhibition space with a local ethnographic
collection in the village of Mnzleti
(northern part of Buzu department),
presenting a link between cultural and
natural heritage. The presentation will focus
on presenting the heritage-making process
(choosing the theme, techniques of display,
choosing the objects and the stories told
within the exhibition, and so on), but also
will have a more reflexive part, as it will
investigate and present the attitude of the
locals towards such an initiative.
The initiative and the research is part of the
project GeoSust, EEA Grants.
51

Water-Powered Peasant Installations

from Maramures
TEOFIL IVANCIUC, Author and Independent
Scholar, Sighetu Marmatiei
teofilivanciuc@yahoo.com
On the banks of Maramure rivers we can
find the largest European group of medieval
looking water-powered peasant machines,
still located in original sites, in working
condition and daily use, without any museum
or tourist purposes, unprotected and in
danger. This presentation describes the
following types of equipments:
- The numerous alcohol distilleries, using
copper stills, where the water is cooling the
vapors of palinca, the local double-distilled
fruits spirit, 50-60 degrees strong.
- The whirlpools, used to wash or to press
carpets and thick textiles, by the centrifugal
action of water. Many have been rebuilt in
the last years, finding their way back in use,
in a place where the traditional costumes are
still proudly worn on holidays.
- The flour mills, used for grinding mainly
corn for polenta, or for animal fodder.
- A European unique set of archaic waterpowered machines still working currently:
fulling mills used to make a thicken woolen
fabric; carding mills where the sheep wool
is prepared for hand spinning; a particular
triple picker which is carding raw sheep
wool, and a singular thresher which is
52

threshing the small amount of grain still

cultivated by few locals.
Most
of
the
contemporary
wooden
installations were reconstructed many times
during
centuries,
but
on
the same
substructions, and using the same medieval
canals. They should be preserved and
protected for the future, as a singular,
valuable and attractive symbol of preindustrial European heritage.

53

Place Defense and Conflicted Local

Resistances in Resource Extraction
Economies: A Multi-disciplinary Analysis
of the Central Appalachian Coalfields
THERESA L. BURRISS, PhD, Radford University
tburriss@radford.edu
RICK ROTH, Ph.D, Radford University
rroth@radford.edu
CHRISTINE SMALL, Ph.D, Radford University
cjsmall@radford.edu
Central Appalachia has endured more than a
century of resource extraction, including
timber, coal, and, more recently, natural gas.
In an area dominated by single industry
economies, absentee corporations have held
communities hostage as residents have had
to choose between making a decent living or
destroying the natural environment they
love. Love of place is one of the enduring
Appalachian values identified by regional
scholar Loyal Jones. While some mountain
residents have organized to stop the
destruction of their home place, others
maintain
such
activism
amounts
to
community suicide. Participants on this
panel/roundtable will highlight the corporate
and political rhetoric that exacerbates these
community divisions. Additionally, they will
discuss environmental policies (or lack
thereof) contributing to lax corporate
54

accountability, citing several historical and

contemporary tragedies that have taken a
toll
on
both
natural
and
human
environments.
Examining
the
cultural
displacement
that
has
resulted
from
extractive
industries
is
crucial
in
understanding the total impact on Central
Appalachian communities, and the panel
participants will incorporate Glen Albrechts
neologism solastalgia to describe the
psychological
fallout
of
the
people,
regardless of the side on which they stand.
Lastly, the panel will focus on how the arts,
whether literature, music, or theater, have
served
as
therapeutic
outlets
and
social/environmental platforms for many
Appalachian citizens.

55

Bodies and Poses: Images of Eastern

European Immigrants to the
Appalachians
CHRISTOPHER A. MILLER, M.A., Radford
University
cmiller@radford.edu
The Department of Archives and Special
Collections in the McConnell Library at
Radford University has recently acquired a
sizable image collection, The George and
Melody Bragg New River Coal Fields
Photographic Collection. This repository of
both glass plate and panoramic film
photography from the late 19th and early 20th
centuries contains thousands of images
captured
in
the
Appalachian
coal
communities of southern West Virginia,
primary by three photographers: R.E. Ribble,
W.O. Trevey, and W.W. Vail. Whether in
situational scenes among the local miners or
in
staged
studio
portraiture,
the
photographers captured for future viewing
the lives of Appalachian communities, many
of whom were immigrants from Eastern
Europe. This paper considers the many
frames through which we may view the
subjects of these photographs as a means of
situating them in the body/place/commons
(Reid and Taylor). From Roma families
posing among the decorated wagons of their
caravan on an Appalachian hillside to
Ukrainian miners studiously dressed for their
day in the portrait studio, photograph
collections such as these expose the
displaced body and the idiosyncrasies in
pose and posture of the immigrant
community. The author seeks to investigate
what a frozen image captures of community
56

and culture when arrival in the central

Appalachian Mountains remains new, and
the residue of a European homeland persists.
.

57

Representations
of
Mountain
Communities in Mainstream Newspapers
GABRIELA CHEFNEUX, PhD,
University of Braov
gabrielachefneux@yahoo.co.uk

Transilvania

One of the main functions of journalism is to

enable people to better understand their
world and their position in it. It represents
the world in language, an extremely
powerful instrument, as language produces
and reproduces social reality and enacts
identity.
Journalism is characterized by a particular
style which embodies values and beliefs and
suggests, in a more or less overt way,
particular perspectives on the world.
In
order to achieve this purpose, newspapers
use a wide range of linguistic strategies from
choice of words to the organization of the
entire text.
This paper aims to identify similar and
different ways in which rural communities
are presented in American and Romanian
local newspapers by using concepts such as
intertextuality,
dialogism,
rhetoric
and
persuasion. The analysis is conducted on
several articles that are divided under four
topics economy, history, local festivals and
charity events.

58

Hyped and Hyper Tradition: the Reinvention of Sinca Veche

CRISTIAN PRALEA, PhD, Assistant Professor of
American Studies, Faculty of Letters,
Transilvania University of Brasov
cpralea@gmail.com
ROBERT G. ELEKES, PhD, Assistant Professor
of Literature, Sapientia University Trgu
Mures
robert.g.elekes@gmail.com
GEORGETA MOARCS, PhD, Assistant Professor
of Literature, Faculty of Letters, Transilvania
University of Brasov
georgeta.moarcas@gmail.com
This three-fold presentation will explore the
contemporary mythology surrounding inca
Veche, a reinvented place of pilgrimage and
tourism, in the mountains close to the city of
Brasov. Cristian Pralea will explore the postindustrial aspects of inca veche as a
meaning making site. Georgeta Moarcs will
look at inca veche from the point of view of
traditional Orthodox pilgrimage, highlighting
the non-traditional aspects intertwined with
this site. Robert Elekes will attempt an
interpretation of the inca veche pilgrimage
site using the French critical thinking
tradition.

59

After Coal: Welsh and Appalachian

Mining Communities
(Film)
TOM HANSELL, M.F.A., Appalachian State
University
hansellts@appstate.edu
What happens to mountain communities as
natural resources are depleted? How do
these rural regions survive the accelerated
cycles
of
industrialization
and
deindustrialization that result from an
increasingly globalized economy? After Coal
is
a
documentary
and
community
engagement project that explores how two
coal communities are facing the limits of
fossil fuels. The south Wales (UK) coalfields
shut down in the 1980s, resulting in the loss
of
20,000
jobs.
Meanwhile,
central
Appalachia (US) has been rocked by the loss
of more than 10,000 mining jobs over the
past two years, and coal job losses are
expected to continue. During the process of
creating a public television documentary and
radio series, After Coal producers have
developed a set of short video clips that
serve as conversation starters at public
forums
about
sustainable
economic
development. These short clips have been
presented in international coal mining
communities including Appalachia, Wales,
Ukraine, and China. The After Coal project
has also facilitated a face-to-face exchange of
60

miners, artists, activists, and policy makers

in coal mining regions. The proposed
presentation will discuss the scope of the
After Coal project, and combines a 40
minute film screening with 20 minutes of
context and questions and answers. To see
examples
of
video
clips
go
to
www.aftercoal.com

61

Genius
Loci:
Documenting
Social
Change and the Death of Industry in Jiu
Valley, Romania
GABRIEL AMZA, Independent Researcher and
Photographer, V-Photo Agency, Romania
amza.gabriel@gmail.com
This ongoing project is working towards
creating an in-depth photographic narrative
of the swift decline of industry in the Jiu
Valley at a time in its history when it looks
both backwards to past glory, and forward to
an uncertain future. The Valley lies nestled in
the Carpathian Mountains that separate
Transylvania from the Southern plains of
Romania.
In the Jiu Valley, while traditionally a
sheepherding country, in the 1850s with the
advent of the Industrial Revolution coal
mining has taken over and caused continued
growth up until the 1990s, when a
combination of factors have led to the
industrys swift decline, throwing local
economy into tatters and the local people
into poverty. The area is going through a
difficult process of rediscovery as it tries to
survive and redefine itself.
The aim of the project is to document how
the shift from the coal hegemony status quo
has created a period of turmoil in the
economic and social environment of the area,
as well as in peoples day to day life. Genius
Loci is intended as an important historical
62

document of these singular times in the

areas history. Times that have reflections
across the world and throughout the history
of humanity. Times that can define
humanitys eternal struggle to adapt to
economic hardship.

63

Mountain Mystics: Magic from

Carpathians to the Appalachians

the

JAMES TYLER CHADWELL, MAIS, Independent

Scholar,
West Virginia University
AidenSapphire@aol.com
TIFFANY D. MARTIN, M.Ed. Fairmont State
University, Frank and Jane Gabor West
Virginia Folklife Center
tmartin9@students.fairmontstate.edu
Folklore from all over the world boasts tales
of magic and witchcraft. None quite as
unique as the tales and traditions told from
the annuals of magic from mountainous
regions. Mountain magic stands apart with
its own particular variants of witchlore and
merchant tales. From the Carpathians to the
Appalachian mountains traditions and tales
of magic have endured across oceans and
transcended the test of time. These beliefs
and oral accounts have been passed down
through countless generations and are still
present in the traditions of its people today.
Our goal is to compare and contrast
Appalachian folklore with Romanian folklore.
More specifically how magic was used and
witchcraft was perceived. We also hope to
show the way Romanian traditions, stories,
and magical practices are still present in the
tales and traditions of Appalachia. Although
Witchcraft has been traditionally thought of
64

as mostly a feminine pursuit, Appalachian

witchlore showcases many examples of
breaking those gender expectations. In the
tales collected by Ruth Anne Musick, Gerald
Milnes, and Patrick Gainer, both genders
equally demonstrate aknowledge of folkmagic practices. Following an examination of
the varying tales surrounding Appalachian
witchlore, similar themes emerged which
can be attributed to, in part, the unique
environment cultivated by the regions
mountainous
terrain.
Commentary
on
gender, identity, and cultural fears as seen
through the lens of the region are on display
in these tales. One such example, the
common fear of the outsider, is a central
theme. We plan to show how mountain magic
is made possible both through geographic
factors and the cultural conditions of those
who inhabit them.

65

The
Mountaineers
Workbook.
The
Practical Value of Magic Folklore in
Appalachian
and
Carpathian
Communities
IOANA BASKERVILLE, PhD, Department of
Ethnology
A. Philippide Institute of Romanian Philology,
Romanian Academy Iasi Branch
repciuc_i_o@yahoo.com
In both American and Romanian folklore
scholarship of the romantic age, magic
beliefs and superstitions of remote, isolated
communities were generally considered as
proof of their backwardness and irrational
behavior.
Therefore
Appalachian
and
Carpathian communities were often pictured
as the primitive other of the civilized
lowlands, a world of fantasy and myth and an
appropriate token for touristic campaigns
and timeless nostalgia. Nevertheless, a
functionalist and holistic approach to the
magic worldview of these highlanders opens
up a different view on the rich inventory of
bizarre gestures intended to protect the
family and livestock, to improve the weather,
or to get practical things done in everyday
life. From this point of view, the mountainous
rural communities should be situated in
between an idealized legendary world and
the uncanny one. Highland magic seems to
be the result of a long process of adjustment
to harsh life conditions and to specific
66

climate and geographical features, as well as

a cultural code which, read carefully, reveals
the cultural history of these areas. The socalled
professional
superstitions
and
occupational folklore should be studied as
part of the sustainable heritage, social and
economic values, and characteristics of
Appalachian and Carpathian regions.

67

Rain on the Scarecrow, Blood On the

Plow: The Post-Industrial Negotiation
Process
at
Cincinnatis
Scarecrow
Festival
DAN SHOPE, PhD, Independent Scholar
drdanshope@gmail.com
Several small towns in Cincinnati, Ohios
metropolitan area are in or near Appalachia.
Cincinnati served as an urban employment
oasis for migrant Appalachians searching for
work as the US labor force transitioned from
agriculture to manufacturing. Cincinnatis
surrounding geographical features suited
arriving Appalachians quite well, providing
hills and fields in the Ohio, Miami, and Little
Miami River Valleys where they could farm.
However, in the last 30 years the
surrounding farms close to Cincinnati have
been developed into middle class suburbs.
Many residents in the Cincinnati metro,
however,
have
not
forgotten
how
Appalachian farmers surrounding the city
once supported urban residents with crops,
and made folk art made from their
agricultural products. To exemplify this bygone era, a small greenhouse in Symmes
Township near Cincinnati, Ohio hosted the
Scarecrow Festival to celebrate both the
approaching Halloween season, and its
memory of a by-gone era. Though these
Appalachian country folks and their farms
were often dismissed by non-Appalachian
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city dwellers, an allegiance to Appalachian

farm life and their folk art was paid by
Scarecrow Festival visitors as they examined
agricultural ways of life, Appalachian roots,
and for many new old-fashioned scarecrow
images for each generation of visitors via the
post-industrial negotiation process.

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The Piatra Craiului National Park:

Mission, Projects and Impact on the
Village of Mgura and its Inhabitants
ROXANA
A.
TRZIU,
MA,
University of Brasov
roxana.tarziu@yahoo.com

Transilvania

The Piatra Craiului National Park stretches

over the counties of Braov and Arge and it
encompasses a series of initiatives that have
a major impact on the locals. This
presentation will focus on the advantages
and disadvantages this institution proposes
to and imposes on the inhabitants of Mgura
village,
as
described
by
the
locals
themselves.

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Mountain hay meadows: hotspots of

biodiversity and traditional culture, a
Documentary Film
GOTA JUHSZ, movie director
juhaszagotacs@gmail.com
LSZL

DEMETER,

biologist

Traditional hay meadow management in

Transylvania
created
and
maintains
outstanding biodiversity and landscape,
provides healthy food and sustains rural
economies and communities. This awardwinning film documents a disappearing
lifestyle,
local
knowledge,
and
the
outstanding natural treasures of our region,
and describes the contradictions and
challenges in European policies aimed at
protecting these threatened habitats and the
small scale farmers who manage them.

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