Coal-fired Power: Household goods, Hegemony, and Social Justice at Appalachian Company Coal Mining Towns

Summary

Hegemonic power structures in Appalachia solidified during industrialization and shape the region’s representation and economic strategies today.  Appalachia is a land of backward hillbillies in the public consciousness, alternately uplifted and oppressed by extractive industries. Popular perceptions privilege the coal industry’s ‘power over’ Appalachian people without confronting the dynamic interplay of many power structures.  Household goods from two Kentucky company coal towns illuminate the multifaceted constitution of power, specifically corporate paternalism, race, gender, and class.  Examples from Jenkins and McRoberts demonstrate that archaeology offers a unique way to challenge stereotypical representations and hegemony by exposing their historical genesis, and to invoke old economic strategies, acknowledging the diversity and emancipatory potential already within Appalachia.  Company coal-mining towns, popularly considered the ultimate manifestation of capitalist oppression, were rich grounds of both organized and everyday activism, which can be reclaimed for empowerment today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Intersectionality as Emancipatory Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 399