Visual Culture of Black Appalachia: Race, Place and Resilience

Introduces culture and history of African American communities in Appalachia. Visual culture and artistic media produced by Appalachians of African descent are used as nodal points through which to explore economic, political, and social forces that have shaped African American communities in Appalachia, and also engaged as forms of creative expression responding to these same forces. As a final project for this course, students contribute to an ongoing, collaborative research project, titled "Mapping Affrilachia," which aims to locate and archive institutions and other sites of African American cultural production in Appalachia and to give voice to black Appalachian artists and communities.