[Folkserv] Unrequited: The Paradox of Black Appalachia 2/14

[Moriarty, Megan]

The Center for Folklore studies will host Kenton Butcher, assistant professor of English at Bucknell University and president of the Tablertown Museum in Athens County, Ohio. One of the community partners of Ohio Field School<https://cfs.osu.edu/archives/collections/ohio-field-school>, the Tablertown Museum<https://peopleofcolormuseum.com/> preserves the history and legacy of Tablertown, a rural Black enclave in southeast Ohio established in the 1830s. Butcher will present "Unrequited: The Paradox of Black Appalachia" on February 14 at 4 pm in 165 Thompson Library.


This presentation explores the intersection of rurality and blackness by analyzing a cultural institution, the Tablertown Museum, in Appalachian Ohio, and it posits that “unrequited” may be a better descriptor of the community’s understanding of its internal and external relations within Appalachia. In its efforts to preserve Tablertown’s oral history and its existential struggles through periods marked by slavery, Native American displacement, segregation, economic underdevelopment, and environmental degradation, the Tablertown Museum grapples with these legacies within the physical and cultural space of Appalachia and the neoliberal quagmire that is nonprofit status. This presentation explores how the Tablertown Museum represents a community forged at the frequently unrecognized intersection of "Black" and "Appalachia" and its ongoing struggles with self-definition, cultural preservation, and economic survival.

This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Studies and OSU Libraries. For more information, go to our website<https://cfs.osu.edu/events/unrequited-paradox-black-appalachia>.

[https://cfs.osu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/facebook/public/2024-01/Copy%20of%20Headshot%20Template%20600x400.png?h=252f27fa&itok=eugQ2cZY]<https://cfs.osu.edu/events/unrequited-paradox-black-appalachia>
Unrequited: The Paradox of Black Appalachia<https://cfs.osu.edu/events/unrequited-paradox-black-appalachia>
The Center for Folklore studies will host Kenton Butcher, assistant professor of English at Bucknell University and president of the Tablertown Museum in Athens County, Ohio.
cfs.osu.edu



Megan Moriarty

Communications Specialist


The Ohio State University

Humanities Institute

456 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210


614-247-1650

moriarty.8 at osu.edu<mailto:moriarty.8 at osu.edu> / osu.edu<http://www.osu.edu>


Pronouns: she/her/hers

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/folkserv/attachments/20240118/05ddf36b/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Paradox of Black Appalachia Flyer (1).pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 715101 bytes
Desc: Paradox of Black Appalachia Flyer (1).pdf
URL: <http://lists.osu.edu/pipermail/folkserv/attachments/20240118/05ddf36b/attachment-0001.pdf>