Saturday, April 21, 2007
West Virginia's 'hillbillies' take aim at stereotypes.
By SARAH SOLE
SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR
Renae Wilson said she knows the formula the news media uses for West Virginia.
"It just seems to me like they'll get the worst-looking ill-speaking people they can find," said Wilson, owner of hair salon Lasting Impressions in Buckhannon, W.Va.
"They'll get the person that has no teeth."
A year after the Sago mining disaster put people like Wilson and her friends and neighbors in the national spotlight, she and others have had time to think about how Appalachians are stereotyped.
Fellow Buckhannon citizen Becky Crites has strong opinions.
"We are portrayed as backwoods hillbillies," said Crites, circulation clerk at Upshur County Public Library.
"Things that were usually private are televised," Crites said of the Sago disaster. "It's painful and it's private and we mourn in our own way. Most people just wanted to have some peace."
Academic view
Ronald Lewis, history professor at West Virginia University, said people from Central West Virginia generally expect well-mannered people to give each other space out of respect.
"Central West Virginia is more Southern," he said. "They're inclined to be polite."
Although Lewis said the media did a great job covering the Sago Disaster, he said that the Appalachian stereotype is still being perpetuated in society.
"They have the template there," Lewis said of the stereotypical portrayal. "The stories all come out about the same. While it's well-written, it's grossly uninformed."
"The Appalachian stereotype means different things depending on who is using it and who is listening to it," he added.
Understanding
Diane Barnes, a Youngstown State University history professor, said the Appalachian stereotype is a touchy subject. Originally from West Virginia, Barnes said that while it is not politically correct to stereotype in terms of gender or race, it is unfortunately still socially acceptable to stereotype Appalachians.
Barnes said the popular modern Appalachian stereotypes were often fueled by so-called "scholarly" research done by some sociologists. Barnes said sociologist Jack Weller's book "Yesterday's People: Life in Contemporary Appalachia" was a perfect example of biased research. In his book, Weller uses the term "mountain man" to collectively define people living in Appalachia.
The book states, "The second-generation mountaineer, however, cannot experience this break with the old culture of his parents, since he may still live enmeshed in the traditional patterns that have molded his ancestors."
Changing times
Filmmaker Catherine Pancake said she believes these images are still present in society, though she hopes that new media focusing on West Virginia's locals will help change assumptions about Appalachia.
"Anything that can be done to create images could really help," said Pancake, who is creating some footage of her own in her film "Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal & amp; the Fight for Coalfield Justice."
Pancake said she hopes her film will help mitigate stereotypes with its focus on the negative effects that mountaintop mining has on the environment. She said her drive to create the documentary came from the people affected by mountaintop mining.
Others in West Virginia share Pancake's positive feelings about film coverage.
Kay Holley, owner of Modern Hair Designs in Buckhannon, thinks Sago news coverage of last year's disaster was fair.
"I think the world has become much smaller," she said.
New perceptions
Holley said live media gives people a chance to decide for themselves how they are going to view people. "I didn't have any problems of the way we were portrayed," Holley said of the Sago news coverage.
In general, West Virginia is never seen as an educational center, said Holley, who counted seven colleges within the state. Originally from Gallipolis, Ohio, Holley has strong feelings for West Virginia. "This is a wonderful place to raise my children. I want my kids to always be proud."
Holley said stereotyping is something that occurs everywhere.
"They [stereotypes] tend to let people make them feel like they are less, and they are certainly not," Holley said of native West Virginians.
Crites, though, understands the news media's thirst for human-interest stories.
"Sensationalism sells. You see the raw emotion. You see pain," Crites said. "But we're more than that."