About the Contributors

The authors whose essays appear in this textbook are scholars and teachers who also manage to be “real-life humans,” as one of our contributors commented. We are more than our jobs, and our lives contain more than our research interests. We also answer email messages from readers in case you want to ask us anything about our chapters, and because email addresses can change, we encourage readers to look us up by using our academic affiliations and keywords from our biographical passages below.

Katharine Lane Antolini (she/her) is a native of Ohio with family roots in West Virginia. She is a historian with an interest in 19th and 20th century American social history, women's history, and Appalachian Studies. She is an associate professor and chair of the department of history and international studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. In her free time, she is an avid reader and subscriber to podcasts within the horror/paranormal genre and enjoys exploring allegedly haunted locations with her adventurous teenaged son.

Aysha Bodenhamer (she/her) grew up in Mount Airy, North Carolina, and is an applied sociologist with interests in environmental sociology, energy, sustainability, occupational health and safety, and Appalachian Studies. She currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and sustainability manager at Radford University. In her spare time, she enjoys most anything outdoor related, including kayaking, hiking, camping, and gardening.

Kelli Carmean is a retired Foundation Professor of anthropology at Eastern Kentucky University. In addition to her anthropological scholarship, she has taught study abroad courses and writes historical fiction based on her archeological and anthropological research and field work.

Molly Clever (she/her) grew up in rural western Pennsylvania and now lives with her family in central West Virginia. She is an associate professor of sociology at West Virginia Wesleyan College and her teaching and research interests include social movements, rebellions, and identity politics. She spends her free time working in her vegetable garden and caring for her collection of tropical plants.

Sarah Craycraft (she/her) is a folklorist interested in generations, rural revitalization, and Appalachia & Eastern Europe. She is currently head tutor and lecturer of folklore and mythology at Harvard University, and she grew up in Brown County, Ohio.

Riccardo Paolo D'Amato (he/him) grew up in Letcher County, in the southeast corner of Kentucky. He is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Kentucky, with research interests in global environmental history, studies of state political powers, and Appalachian Studies. In his off time, he bakes family recipes that remind him of his home near Pine Mountain.

Lisa Day (she/her) grew up at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, in the two westernmost Appalachian counties in the state. As an associate professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University, her areas of expertise include intersectional feminism, literature written by marginalized authors, and relationship-rich pedagogy. She enjoys traveling and walking with her partner on familiar paths as well as on trails with new smells for their energetic dogs.

Amanda Green (she/her) grew up in West Virginia and is an applied anthropologist with research and teaching interests in the anthropology of food, food activism, and food security. She currently serves as an associate professor of anthropology at Eastern Kentucky University. Currently, she enjoys the challenge of growing native and heirloom plants in her garden with the help of her children.

Edward Green (he/him) grew up in southeastern Kentucky and is a criminologist with research interests in the sociology of punishment, theory, and cultural production of crime narratives. He currently serves as an associate professor at Roosevelt University’s Department of Criminal Justice in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a musician who tours in Americana, folk, and blues circuits.

Sarah Gripshover (she/her) grew up in Northern Kentucky. She graduated with honors from Eastern Kentucky University in 2020 with bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and Spanish as well as a minor in archaeology. She enjoys reading and painting as well as spending time with family, including her two dogs, and is eagerly anticipating the birth of her first nephew.

Catherine Herdman (she/her) is a West Virginia native who studied Appalachian history at  Western Carolina University and the University of Kentucky.  She has been teaching Appalachian Studies for over 20 years, with a strong emphasis on Appalachian economic and labor history, literature, and film. She enjoys travel, music, film, and hiking and has a daughter that keeps life warm and interesting.

Jacob Johnson (he/him) is pursuing a doctorate in history at the University of Kentucky, where he is an officer in the Graduate Appalachian Research Community and an organizer of the Dimensions of Political Ecology conference. Originally from Wheelwright in Floyd County, he grew up in his grandfather’s liquor store enmeshed in the locals’ oral histories of one of eastern Kentucky’s last model coal towns. His work focuses on illuminating events, people, and topics increasingly forgotten from the region’s recent past.

Ben Judkins (he/him) grew up in the Appalachia Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. He is a semi-retired sociologist with research and teaching interests in social movements, race and ethnic relations, occupational health, inequality, and the sociology of Appalachia. He currently teaches in the ENCORE Program for older adults at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, where he also works with the nonprofit City Fields to help revitalize overlooked neighborhoods. He enjoys disc golf, hiking, and cooking.

Shawn Kimbro (he/him) is a musician and songwriter who grew up near Cherokee Lake in East Tennessee and worked his way through college catching and selling catfish. With a strong avocational interest in history and environmentalism, he has authored three books about fishing. He serves as the director of the Sleep Medicine Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Jordan Lovejoy (she/her) grew up in southern West Virginia’s Wyoming County and is a folklorist interested in Appalachian environmental storytelling. She is currently an American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices postdoctoral fellow, Southern Futures assistant director, and visiting assistant professor in American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She enjoys spending time on porches, wandering through the mountains, and walking with her dogs.

Esther M. Morgan-Ellis (she/her) is associate professor of music history at the University of North Georgia, where she also directs the orchestra and coaches the old-time string band. She studies participatory music-making traditions of the past and present, employing both historical and ethnographic methodologies. She has published on the U.S. community singing movement, mediated sing-alongs, Sacred Harp singing, old-time string band music, and music history pedagogy. She is a fanatic shape-note singer and travels to singings all around the South, and she plays fiddle every week at her local old-time jam and with friends in their homes. When not singing or playing, she grows zinnias and daylilies. She grew up making music in Port Angeles, a rural town in the Pacific Northwest.

Holly Ningard (she/her) grew up in northeastern Ohio, and earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She is a sociologist with research and teaching interests in narrative criminology, green criminology, and gender-based violence. She currently serves as an assistant professor of instruction in Sociology at Ohio University. She is a real-life human and enjoys watching horror films, taking road trips, and reading on the porch with her three cats: Tomato Sauce, Rory, and Émile.

Lynnette Noblitt (she/her) is a professor and department chair of government at Eastern Kentucky University. Originally from Richmond, Kentucky, her teaching and research interests include law and its intersections with animals, expert witnesses, intellectual property, and student success. She also coaches the university’s award-winning mock trial team, which she likes because “it fills my litigation void.”

Thomas Parker (he/him) teaches in the department of government at Eastern Kentucky University in a range of classes that encompass introductory legal principles, legal research and writing, constitutional politics, and civil liberties. He works closely with EKU’s mock trial team and has served as the state coordinator for the Kentucky High School Mock Trial Tournament since 2013.

Cassie Rosita Patterson (she/her) is executive director of Southern Ohio Folklife, a nonprofit organization that researches, supports, documents, and networks folklife within the southern Ohio region. Cassie is also a special projects consultant for the American Folklore Society, where she serves as program manager for the Folk Arts Partnership Professional Development Institute. She is working on documenting and sharing Latine lifeways throughout southern Ohio. Cassie is a budding homesteader who enjoys walking in the woods with her dogs, documenting the vernal pool behind her home, and watching the birds with her partner, Brian.

Erin Presley (she/her) is a professor of English and Coordinator of Appalachian Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Her research focuses on literary representations of government-mandated initiatives in the Mountain South and often finds its way into her teaching. Originally from northeast Tennessee, she lives in beautiful Berea, Kentucky with her husband, daughter, dog friend, and four hens.

Allison Ricket (she/her) has lived in Appalachia for most of her adult life and currently works as an assistant professor of research and director of analytics for the Impact Measurement and Management group at Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service. Her areas of interest include rural community economic development, ecosystems approaches to community well-being, and trail running.

Carl Root (he/him) is a senior lecturer in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Carl was born and raised in London, Kentucky, and earned a PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from University of South Florida. He and his spouse have made their home in Winchester, Kentucky, and their three children are already artists, musicians, athletes, smart, funny, kind, and just all-around good people.

Sydney Varajon (she/her) is a folklorist from southeast Tennessee who is interested in oral history, vernacular architecture and the built landscape, and the relationship between cultural and environmental sustainability. She is currently a visiting instructor in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University. She enjoys "making" of all sorts-- from art to coffee to bluegrass music.

Tasha Werry (she/her) is an Army brat with Appalachian roots who spent the first half of her life moving around, and the second half of her life in southeastern Ohio. What began as a career in teaching led to the founding of Building Bridges to Careers, which fosters relationships to inspire career choice. As the Executive Director of BB2C, her focus is on engaging all members of the community around the career development of its children and youth.  

Jacqueline Yahn (she/her) is from the Upper Ohio Valley known locally as “the Valley,” where she lives with her husband and son among three generations of their families. Her research focuses on rural school and community vitality with a focus on school funding and education policy issues, especially those relevant to the Appalachian region. She is currently an Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Ohio University. She enjoys time with her family, hiking, books, and a good cup of coffee.