Marshall University Hosts 31st annual conference on Appalachian Studies

HUNTINGTON, WV -- More than six hundred people descended on this small West Virginia city, nestled up against the east bank of the Ohio River, for the Appalachian Studies Association's 31st annual conference. This was the first time in ASA history that the conference was held at Marshall University, which houses the ASA headquarters. The conference was a flurry of academics, public officials, publishers, musicians, concerned citizens, all to celebrate and protect Appalachian culture. The conference began Friday morning, March 28th, and ended Sunday morning.

The focus of this year's gathering was "The Road Ahead," emphasizing cross-generational discourse and cooperation. A main concern of the gathering, as usual, was to sort out the dubious future of Appalachia, to ensure that Big Coal does not rob us of our futures as well as homes.

ILoveMountains.org won this year's award for best website. After visiting the site, you'll understand why: it is a comprehensive guide to the tragedy of mountain top removal (MTR) mining. Numerous facts, videos, and photographs elucidate the hard reality of MTR and what it's doing not only to West Virginia, but to Kentucky, Tennessee, and southwest Virginia as well. The site even includes a power plant tracker -- enter your zip code and it will generate a list of coal-fired power plants in your area that are burning coal extracted from MTR sites in West Virginia. Please, please, please visit the site. At least watch the short video below. Knowledge is power. And Appalachia needs all the power she can get (besides coal power, of course).

Pocahontas Press proudly held a display table at the conference, amid an assortment of high-caliber scholarly publishers such as Ohio University Press, West Virginia University Press, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Press. We felt privileged to be part of such a display. Also holding tables was an array of civic and activist groups, such as the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. We were fortunate enough to share the trip with Dave Elkinton, author of Fighting to Protect the Highlands, who came to promote his book. And we sold quite a few.

It was a great conference! Thanks to Shaunna Scott, the ASA President, Chris Green, the Conference Program Chair, and Dan Holbrook, the Local Arrangements Chair. And to everyone at Marshall University who made arrangements, contacted people, set up chairs, served food, picked up trash, and did all the behind-the-scenes work that no one saw. Thanks to the students for being away on spring break and letting us have the whole campus to ourselves. Thanks to the Pullman Plaza hotel for boarding, I'd say, at least eighty percent of the conference guests, and supplying them with complimentary drinks. Despite the temptation of free booze, we did manage to get away from the hotel in time to sell some books, participate in a few panel discussions, and see some presentations. Huntington's a nice town, well worth the three-hour drive. As helpless as we feel sometimes against ruthless coal companies, a gathering of energetic, optimistic people such as this gives us hope for Appalachia.