February 25, 2015

Please join the Center for Appalachian Studies in welcoming Dr. Jeffrey A. Keith, a professor of global studies at Warren Wilson College, Appalachian historian, and musician to our campus for a brown bag lecture on Friday, February 27th, from 12:30 to 1:30 in Linville Falls (PSU).

The title of Dr. Keith's lecture is Kyrgyztuckian Music as Cultural Foreign Policy: Reflections on Power, Music, and Representation in Appalachia and the Kyrgyz Republic

Jeff Keith earned his doctorate in history at the University of Kentucky, where he specialized in the history of Appalachia and U.S. foreign policy. As a graduate student, Keith began the University of Kentucky String Band, which performed across the eastern U.S. as the Red State Ramblers. The band came to the attention of the U.S. Department of State in 2012, when the Ramblers were invited to Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador as cultural emissaries for the U.S. This presentation will provide an overview of the band’s experiences in Kyrgyzstan, though it will include brief discussions of how that trip illustrated fascinating differences and connections between the mountains of Appalachia and Central Asia in terms of contemporary power dynamics, musical styles, and the politics of representation.

For more information, contact Dr. Katherine Ledford at ledfordke [at] appstate [dot] edu or 262-4087.

February 24, 2015

The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership has awarded $7,000 to the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University to develop lesson plans about North Carolina’s music traditions. 

February 16, 2015

After more than a decade of studying numerous fossils with a focus on the Late Triassic Period, Appalachian State University professor Andrew Heckert was recently involved in the identification and naming of Gorgetosuchus Pekinensis, a previously unknown species of the crocodile family.

December 10, 2014 

“I am honored to serve as the new Coordinator of the College of Arts and Sciences Humanities Council,” Dr. Nancy Sue Love says. “In the 21st century, American citizens are being asked to redefine themselves as members of an emerging global community. Although the traditional humanities remain crucial resources in this effort, today their task is to enhance public life in new global contexts on behalf of a more sustainable democracy.  I look forward to working with the Council and others to contribute to these efforts.”

Love joined the faculty at Appalachian State in 2009, and currently serves as a Professor in the Department of Government and Justice Studies. Love is the former Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program.

Love received her PhD in 1984 and MA in 1981 from Cornell University, and a AB degree in 1977 from Kenyon College. Her teaching and research emphasize political theory, especially critical theory, democratic theory, and feminist theory. She has extensive experience with public humanities programs and previously served on the Humanities Council here at Appalachian as well as on the board of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

Dr. Love is the author of Musical Democracy (2006), Understanding Dogmas and Dreams: A Text, 2nd ed. (2006), and Marx, Nietzsche, and Modernity (1986), the editor of Dogmas and Dreams: A Reader in Modern Political Ideologies, 4th ed. (2010), and the co-editor of Studying Politics Today: Critical Approaches to Political Science (2014) and Doing Democracy: Activist Art and Cultural Politics (2013). She has also published numerous articles and book chapters. She recently completed a six-year term as the co-editor of New Political Science: A Journal of Politics and Culture.

“The College is fortunate to have Dr. Love taking over the coordinator position for the Council,” Sr. Associate Dean Neva Specht remarked.  “Nancy has a remarkable understanding of the power of the humanities and will provide strong leadership for the council.”

The purpose of the Humanities Council is to enhance support for and recognition of Humanities scholarship throughout the University and to encourage interdisciplinary research and communication among scholars from different areas of expertise. Through its varied programming initiatives, the Humanities Council aims to promote understanding of work in the Humanities, its relationship to other fields of inquiry, and the important role it plays at our university and in our world. The Humanities Council is a site where the values of interdisciplinary and the liberal arts are promoted to the benefit of students, the College, and the University.

To learn more about the Humanities Council, please visit humanitiescouncil.appstate.edu.