Thursday, October 13

03-02 Environmentalisms from the Bottom Up: Knowledge Exchange in Appalachian Contexts

Thursday, October 13, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm
Tulsa North

This live event will not be recorded.

Sponsored by the Folklore and Science Section


Chair: Katherine Borland (The Ohio State University)

2:30 pm
Negotiating the Research: Steps Toward Community-Partner-Centered Inquiry
Katherine Borland (The Ohio State University)

2:45 pm
The Environmental Study Team at the Intersection of Folklife and Youth Activism
Ellen E. McHale (New York Folklore)

3:00 pm
Citizen-Science and the Forest Commons: A Case Study of Knowledge Exchange among Trappers and Wildlife Biologists in West Virginia
Mary Hufford (Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network)

3:30 pm
Youth Recycling, Environmental Stewardship, and Slow Activism in Southern West Virginia
Jordan Lovejoy (University of Minnesota)

3:45 pm
optional discussion time

In a landscape scarred by extraction, trappers, recyclers, and watershed protectors work with environmental professionals to create a greener future. In this panel, we explore how students, teachers, and extension agents open up spaces for grassroots environmental governance to create bridges across generations in the cultural/environmental field. Where can the frictions between local knowledge and scientific expertise productively create space for talking about abstract concepts, like climate change? We examine chains of influence among differently-situated actors in the work of environmental repair and focus on the mechanisms for strengthening local governance in places that historically have suffered from expert interventions.