University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Geography Geography 2012 PERFORMING COMMUNITY: THE PLACE OF MUSIC, RACE AND GENDER IN PRODUCING APPALACHIAN SPACE Deborah J. Thompson University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Thompson, Deborah J., "PERFORMING COMMUNITY: THE PLACE OF MUSIC, RACE AND GENDER IN PRODUCING APPALACHIAN SPACE" (2012). Theses and Dissertations--Geography. 1. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/geography_etds/1 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Geography at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Geography by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained and attached hereto needed written permission statements(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine). I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless a preapproved embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s dissertation including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Deborah J. Thompson, Student Dr. Richard H. Schein, Major Professor Dr. Michael Samers, Director of Graduate Studies PERFORMING COMMUNITY: THE PLACE OF MUSIC, RACE AND GENDER IN PRODUCING APPALACHIAN SPACE _____________________________________ DISSERTATION _____________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Deborah J. Thompson Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Richard H. Schein, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2012 Copyright © Deborah J. Thompson 2012 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION PERFORMING COMMUNITY: THE PLACE OF MUSIC, RACE AND GENDER IN PRODUCING APPALACHIAN SPACE Traditional, participatory music is a powerful medium through which people express and shape their ideas about identity, mobility, social relations, and belonging, and through which people are in turn shaped. The everyday cultural practices of playing, sharing, and dancing to traditional music, as well as discussions about the nature of traditional music and production of events involving traditional music, all work to construct the region called Appalachia. Through this dissertation, I seek to answer some simple questions that have complicated answers involving place, identity, power, and social relations, with economic, social, and emotional ramifications: Who gets to be an Appalachian musician? How is this accomplished? Who gets to decide? Using a social constructionist theoretical base and drawing on such literatures as cultural geography, music geography, musicology and ethnomusicology, Appalachian studies, and critical regionalism, I employ ethnographic techniques, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and discourse analysis to understand the workings of old time music and the self-understanding of musicians that play and sing traditional music in eastern Kentucky, a core area of Appalachia. This dissertation shows that vernacular roots music in eastern Kentucky is both an inclusive and a contested phenomenon. In describing and analyzing the spaces for music in Appalachia, the old-time community in eastern Kentucky, the dynamics of festival hiring negotiations, and interviews with white and African American musicians, both male and female, I show how Appalachian space is produced simultaneously on many different scales. This construction is a dialectical process, articulating between the power expressed on a micro scale between individuals and the power used by individuals and institutions to define the region through representation. This dissertation demonstrates two main processes: how Appalachian space is negotiated and produced through interactions at jam sessions and other events, and how the musicians perform community in these interstitial moments. Contributions of this dissertation include attention to micro scale interactions and embodiment as a key component of spatial production, participant observation as a research method in music geography, and increased understanding of the performance of race and gender in cultural and spatial production. KEYWORDS: Appalachian music, music geography, African Americans in Appalachia, gender and music, social production of space Deborah J. Thompson Student’s signature April 11, 2012 Date PERFORMING COMMUNITY: THE PLACE OF MUSIC, RACE AND GENDER IN PRODUCING APPALACHIAN SPACE By Deborah J. Thompson Richard H. Schein, Ph.D. Director of Dissertation Michael Samers, Ph.D. Director of Graduate Studies April 13, 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As this dissertation documents music’s power in producing Appalachian space, so does it also document the power of the social relations of the UK Geography Department in producing humane and scholarly space. The collegiality, humor, and support of the department’s faculty, staff, and my fellow students all worked to create a magical space for intellectual growth. While the errors in this document are all mine, I am very grateful to my committee for their guidance and questioning, high standards and incredible body of knowledge, especially the “tough love” of my chair, Rich Schein, and the less tough love of Ron Pen. With appreciation also for the valuable contributions of Karl Raitz and Anna Secor and their exemplary scholarship, and to Michael Crutcher, for his open door and generous engagement with my work while serving on my committee. I also wish to extend my thanks to my outside examiner, Joseph Taraba, for his interest in my project. Many other professors in the department also taught me to be a geographer, including Stan Brunn, who coached me through my first peer-reviewed geography journal article, J.P. Jones III, Betsy Taylor, Wolfgang Natter, P.P. Karan, Alice Turkington, Lynn Phillips, Jonathan Phillips, Sue Roberts, and Dick Gilbreath, cartographer extraordinaire. All my fellow graduate students and the post-docs who passed through the POT created a nurturing and irreverent community that helped me keep my sanity and taught me as much as the faculty. Although they all contributed to my well-being in so many ways, I am especially grateful to Sya Kedzior, Ellen Hostetter, Julie Reisenweber, Taro Futamura, Jeff West, Matt McCourt, Maggie Walker, Viva Nordberg (Reynolds), Linda Martin, Abby Foulds, Chris Blackden, Kathleen O’Reilly, Tara Maddock, and Trushna Parekh. iii The faculty, staff, and students in Women’s Studies at UK, especially Karen Tice, Susan Bordo, and Jan Oaks, were instrumental in my feminist intellectual development, and my fellow musicologists in the Old Time Music Seminar helped nurture the early stages of this project. The Dissertation Divas at Berea all contributed to keeping me on my project during off times. My deepest appreciation goes to the musicians and scholars who participated in my study, both to the people who knew me before and those I met during my research. Despite any implied critique that might emerge in my intellectual engagement with understanding the power of music, I am in awe of how your music and generosity helps create a better world. I truly appreciate your trust in sharing your music, lives, words, hearts, and memories. I have striven to represent you and your words accurately and appreciate your patience and contributions as I tease apart the special gift we share. Please forgive me where I have erred. Special thanks and love also go to my fellow Hindmaniacs, who share the utopian dream and help make it a reality one week every year. Special acknowledgement is due to Mike Mullins, late director of the Hindman Settlement School, for his unwavering support of me as a scholar and a musician, and for his tireless and loving promotion and support of the region, the arts, and his extended family of which I’m proud and humble to be a part. My colleagues at Berea College saw me through the long slog. With much appreciation for the folks in the Appalachian Center, especially Chad Berry; for the faculty and staff at Hutchins Library for study space and especially those in Special Collections: Steve Gowler, Harry Rice, Shannon Wilson, Jaime Bradley, and John Bondurant; and for Barbara Wade and Elizabeth Walker, who read parts of the dissertation and helped me iv through