Appalachian Folklore: More than Apple Butter and Quilts

By: Aaron FieldsMarch 19, 2015

In our class meeting on March 12, 2015, associate professor of English, Dr. Hathaway, shared her thoughts and research regarding Appalachian folklore to us using a PowerPoint that illustrated her findings and ideas for using folklore in the classroom.  In her presentation, she describes her experiences concerning folklore by sharing her research and previous projects she has engaged with during her years of study. She illustrated in her lecture the importance of place-based pedagogy and provided examples from past students who participated in place-based projects.

What is Folklore?

            Dr. Hathaway challenged our thinking by asking the class, “When you think of Appalachian folklore, whatever that might be, what kinds of things come to mind?” Jen answered by saying, “I think about the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s even though it’s more modern because it has been so exaggerated.” Caroline thought of ghosts and superstitions and gave an interesting example of a superstition in which she stated, “Have a cow lick your head so you do not go bald.” These thoughts represented our perspectives of folklore in the class meeting which led Dr. Hathaway to describing the definition of folklore given by Jan Brunvand which suggested that folklore is “the traditional, unofficial, non-institutional part of culture. It encompasses all knowledge, understandings, values, attitudes, assumptions, feelings, and beliefs transmitted in traditional forms by word of mouth or by customary examples.”

Dr. Hathaway proceeded to tell the class that it is common for people to consider folklore as “old timey” or “old fashioned stuff” which prevents people from understanding the true meaning of folklore and the benefits of folklore for our own culture and in our future classrooms. In consideration to Dr. Hathaway’s objective for being a folklorist, her “life goal” as she stated in the meeting, “is to take down people’s assumption that folklore is always about ‘old stuff’ that nobody believes and doesn’t have anything to do with my contemporary life.” In addition to Dr. Hathaway’s objective, she encouraged us to look at folklore as “perspective” and explained to us that she places her attention on looking at the world and thinking about cultural productions.  This objective provided a solid foundation for her presentation as she led us through her experiences regarding folklore and explained how we can utilize folklore and cultures to reach our students.

Contemporary Folklore

            After we defined folklore and recognized several different opinions considering cultural traditions, we soon discovered that many groups or “small groups” can have “folklore”, such as teachers, students, members of a club or organization. All of these small groups have decided ways of communicating with each other to express ideas and feelings which can project their values and beliefs based upon their culture.  This explanation allowed us to examine the influence of folklore as a modern and contemporary idea, abolishing the stereotypical image of folklore as being “old timey” and irrelevant to our daily lives or present forms of communication. Dr. Hathaway continued her presentation by informing the class about the 3 broad categories of folklore, including narrative, customary, and material folklore.

·      Narrative folklore can consist of proverbs, nicknames, riddles, and “anything that people can create with words.”

·      She then explained that customary folklore are things people do to celebrate culture and honor their heritage, such as holiday traditions, dances, or rituals.

·      Finally, Dr. Hathaway introduced us to material folklore. This category of folklore can include crafts, costumes, and foodways which can be very significant when tied to cultural history.

These categories of folklore are very important to consider when teaching, observing, or reflecting about cultural traditions, regional differences, and cultural histories that can be traced or understood using these categories or tools to discover folklore. What would our classrooms look like if we taught folklore in a contemporary or modern fashion and how would our students react to this form of instruction?

In the Classroom

            When we view folklore as a relevant and relatable tool in consideration to our teaching strategies, we can begin to delve into the content of folklore and connect these cultural influences to the content we are teaching to our students. Dr. Hathaway stated, “Studying folklore makes you assume that all expression is culturally significant until proven otherwise. It is the most exciting thing to discover these instances and learn or know more about the world in which we live in.” If interested and invested into the material or assignments we present in class, students become “investigators” and will research content that is entertaining and relevant regarding their own experiences or wonders of things unknown. Folklore, as Dr. Hathaway summarized in class, provides countless opportunities for students to explore their own region or environment and find materials or cultural traditions that relates to the content being examined in class. For example, students can participate in projects, such as a digital storytelling project that students must create a movie that portrays their experiences using narrative and photographs to portray their cultural background and traditions.

Folklore can not only be used to capture students’ attention but can be utilized to teach students complex concepts about cultures by relating their traditions and values to other cultural groups that celebrate or believe differently. This allows students to delve into learning the meaning of folklore through different “cultural lenses” or perspectives. As Dr. Hathaway suggested in class, focusing on folklore teaches students to be constantly alert and curious of the world around them, making students assume that things are richer and more complex than what one may imagine. To study folklore effectively, one must ask, “Why does this matter to this group of people and how does it explain their values or cultural history?” Dr. Hathaway suggests that this is an important aspect of studying folklore and a great way to guide your students as they explore the meaning of different cultures or communities.

Place-based Pedagogy

Dr. Hathaway concluded her presentation on folklore by explaining the opportunities of place-based education concerning cultural traditions and folklore. She used the website, “Promise of Place” to inform us about how this kind of “community-based pedagogy” can be integrated across the curriculum, not just used in the English Language Arts curriculum. Dr. Hathaway informed us that the place-based education allows students to experience their local heritage, cultures, landscapes, and provides unique opportunities for students to learn while participating in service projects for the school or community service activities. For place-based education, teachers must prepare their students before taking part in any activities that require students conducting fieldwork or participating in service projects. She concluded that students are more likely to learn from their experiences if they have a little background knowledge to support their learning and findings while participating in fieldwork or community projects. I believe place-based education for students considering folklore and the cultural traditions they will experience will only provide benefits and great opportunities for learning to all students.

Dr Hathaway is currently an advisory board member for the National Writing Project and her specialties include folklore, 20^th century American literature, English education, and young adult literature. Across these areas of study, Dr. Hathaway is the author of over 16 publications. Dr. Hathaway is a trained folklorist and for our class session, she prepared her presentation to walk us through the steps of using methodologies of oral history to engage students’ interest and develop their understanding of folklore while focusing on place based pedagogies to enrich our future classroom curricula.

Dr. Hathaway's Recommended Resources: 

Book Resources: 

Bowman, Paddy, and Lynne Hamer, eds. Through the Schoolhouse Door: Folklore, Community,   Curriculum. Logan: Utah State UP, 2011.

Brooke, Robert E., ed. Rural Voices: Place-ConsciousEducation and the Teaching of Writing. New   York: Teachers College Press, 2003.

Goldenseal: West Virginia Traditional Life. Published Quarterly by the West Virginia Division of   Culture and History.

Online Resources: 

—The Wisconsin Teachers of Local Culture project out of the U of Wisconsin: trains K-12 teachers to develop place-based curricula and have students do fieldwork in their communities. —Their site has fantastic lesson plans and “how-to” guides for both teachers and kids*, with ideas that are easily translatable to other places and grade levels. 

—The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has excellent materials for teachers, including information about how to conduct and document interviews, Lesson plans, And examples of successful school-based projects, including work that students have contributed to the LOC’s Veterans History Project.

—The Local Learning Network’s website also has lots of free, downloadable materials and descriptions of model projects.