Academic Tourism

This week I've had a number of interesting conversations with Achill Tourism Director Chris McCarthy. He has been our primary contact on the island and chief curator, introducing us to people who know the island and it's stories well, people engaged with folklore collection and preservation, and local heritage. One of the most refreshing aspects …

Field School tour of the Beckley Exhibition Mine

Today we traveled to Beckley to tour the exhibition mine. We rode a small train deep into the earth. The site included several coal camp structures: a camp house, bachelor shanty, one room school, church and the superintendent's house. The students have been reading about and interviewing coal mining families before and during the field …

Field School 2018: West Virginia Coalfields

I've been looking forward to this day for over a year. We arrived to South Charleston to a lovely AirBnB late yesterday afternoon. Today we travel to Mingo County to interview mining families at the Matewan Union Hall.  The ten students who are with me: graduate students from Mason's Folklore Studies Program, Anthropology Program and …