Join us for an evening celebrating Open Educational Resources, including the recently published open textbook Accessible Appalachia, featuring independent folklorist and contributing author to Accessible Appalachia. Dr. Patterson will discuss diverse voices throughout Appalachia, community art, and how they intersect with OER.
Folklore of Appalachia: Memory, Resistance, and Belonging in Appalachian Ohio
This presentation explores the ways that residents in the small city of Portsmouth, Ohio express their visions for their community in public spaces and various forms of media. From large-scale mural projects to documentaries, podcasts, graffiti and sidewalk art, what are the mechanisms of self-expression and community-making that have and continue shaping the identity of a former steeltown since the 1980s? How do various articulations of a place tell us about the people who inhabit it? What are the logistics of those articulations? And which stories have yet to be included in the narratives of this place?
Join folklorist Dr. Cassie Rostia Patterson for a photo- and audio-based analysis of the meanings and dialogues of community self-representation in a small Ohio river city. Following her own trajectory as a graduate student; an administrator, archivist, and field school instructor; and freelancer and founder of a nonprofit organization, Patterson will share insights into diverse approaches to city revitalization from over a decade of fieldwork in Scioto County, Ohio.
Patterson will close the presentation by sharing clips from Southern Ohio Folklife’s inaugural podcast, Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio (Cultures of Southern Ohio), and share the slow, iterative work to support and share Latine lifeways in the region.
Dr. Cassie Rosita Patterson is Executive Director of Southern Ohio Folklife, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that supports, documents, and networks folklife within the southern Ohio region, focusing specifically on Clermont, Brown, Highland, Adams, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Vinton, Jackson, Lawrence, and Gallia Counties. Southern Ohio Folklife engages community-centered participatory approaches and collaborative methodologies in order to center local perspectives and knowledges in complex, equitable, and inclusive representations and decision-making processes that impact local life. Cassie is an independent folklorist and humanities consultant, and sole proprietor of Cassie Rostia Patterson, LLC.
Cassie is co-author of the chapter “Folklore of Appalachia” in the newly published edited collection, Accessible Appalachia: An Open-Access Introduction to Appalachian Studies. The e-book is free and available to view or download at https://manifold.open.umn.edu/projects/accessible-appalachia.
Patterson received her PhD from the Department of English from Ohio State University with a Graduate Interdisciplinary Specialization in Folklore in 2021. She is a partner-caregiver living in Blue Creek, Ohio with her significant other, Brian, and their two dogs.
Visit southernohiofolklife.org or cassierositapatterson.com for more information. Listen to Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio wherever you get podcasts. Follow Southern Ohio Folklife at
IG: @southernohiofolklife
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Southern-Ohio-Folklife
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southern-ohio-folklife
Follow Cassie at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-cassie-patterson/
If you require accommodations to participate in this event, please reach out to Christina Stallard: christina.stallard@eku.edu or 859-622-1072.