ACR Fall 2024 Class Project
Appalachian Community Research Fall 2024
Course Theme:
Collective Memory: Contested History Sites as Spaces
for Social Growth and Economic Development
Course Number: APS/PHS/SOC 4094 (CRN 90878)
Class time: Tuesday-Thursday 3:30-4:55 PM
Location: TBA
Course Description:
Virginia Tech students will participate as co-researchers in Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV), a project funding up to ten new monuments to uplift underrecognized stories in Appalachian Virginia and the ancestral lands of the Yesa (Eastern Siouan) peoples out of the recognition that public spaces and narratives can enable or hinder access to safety, health, opportunity, and expression. Students will work with one community group to help ensure that their new monument enhances residents’ sense of belonging and well-being, boosts community and regional pride and dignity, and promotes political empowerment.
Instructors:
Dr. Sarah Plumer, Postdoctoral Fellow with MAAV and Appalachian Studies Instructor, Virginia Tech (splummer@vt.edu)
Dr. Julia Gohlke, PhD, Associate Professor Department of Population Health Sciences (jgohlke@vt.edu)