Power and Place: NEH 2011 Summer Institute

Power and Place: Land and Peoples in Appalachia

Core Faculty

{title}Daniel S. Pierce, Ph. D., chair of the history department at the University of North Carolina Asheville and co-founder of the Appalachian History Working Group, will serve as academic co-director of the series. Dr. Pierce is author of the widely acclaimed environmental history, The Great Smokies:  From Natural Habitat to National Park and has taught the courses on Appalachian history as well as American environmental history at UNCA for over fifteen years. Dr. Pierce’s most recent book, Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France, reveals a new look at the sport from its postwar beginnings on Daytona Beach and Piedmont dirt tracks through the early 1970s when the sport spread beyond its southern roots and gained national recognition.


{title}Jamie Ross, producer and writer of the PBS series APPALACHIA: A History of Mountains and People will serve as co-director and core faculty member of Power and Place. Ten years in the making, APPALACHIA has been lauded as a landmark in historical filmmaking and was named by Booklist magazine the “Best Video of the Year.” Jamie Ross brings to the institute a broad ranging knowledge of the scholarship on Appalachia as well as a deep acquaintance with primary sources.  Along with her expertise on the history of the Appalachian Mountains, Jamie Ross has extensive experience as a teacher and a research librarian.  For her work in education, she received theNational Scholar Award from the Council on Basic Education. She is currently at work on a project exploring the ecological and cultural history of the Southern table.

{title}Erica Abrams Locklear, assistant professor in the Literature and Language department at UNC Asheville, specializes in Appalachian and Southern literature, and teaches courses in American literature, Women’s Studies, and Humanities. Her book, Negotiating a Perilous Empowerment: Appalachian Women’s Literacies, is forthcoming in Ohio University Press’ Series in Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Appalachia.(http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Negotiating+a+Perilous+Empowerment) Erica Abrams Locklear has also published articles in The Southern Literary Journal, Crossroads: A Southern Culture Annual, Community Literacy Journal, and The North Carolina Folklore Journal. She currently serves on the editorial board of the North Carolina Folklore Journal.