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Date of Graduation
5-12-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
School of Communication Studies
Advisor(s)
Kathryn Hobson
Jennifer PeeksMease
Melissa W. Alemán
Abstract
Rural, small towns are incredibly complex cultural centers. Although rural places are consistently portrayed as unchanging, the operation of cultural and identity within these locations is consistently on the move. Using reflexive interviewing, poetic transcription, autoethnographic writing, this project (re)presents poems on community and identity from five women employed in schools in rural, mostly White, small towns in the Central Appalachian region. Analyzing the poems through concepts in performance studies and work on space and place, this project positions movement and change at the center of small towns and examines how notions of rural place and community are performed through representations of experience and identity.
Recommended Citation
Turner, Telena M., "“but for those of us who live here”: Performance of work and community by women employed in rural, predominantly white, small-town schools" (2022). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 130.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/130
Included in
Appalachian Studies Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Performance Studies Commons, Poetry Commons, Women's Studies Commons
