“You know me. I
have always seen myself as a dumb kid from Elkhorn who did not like school but
now I am two classes away from my masters and I am teaching kids! Can you
believe this?! I would have never imagined it possible!”[1] Randy
was a very capable, passionate, and hard-working man who had been hurt at his
good paying job and later was terminated. This accident led him on a search for
meaning and purpose. He had thought his life would be defined by hard work and caring
his family, but workers’ compensation and then disability were staring at him
as a permanent reality. After many conversations, questions, and gentle nudges he
dipped his toes into a few community college classes. Later, he
transferred to UPIKE and completed his degree in sociology. He had hopes of
landing an emergency teaching job while he continued to work toward his
master’s degree in education. Over a six-year period, Randy went from
being a hurt hillbilly to a professional in his community who is now a role
model for elementary kids. Randy moved from a place of deep self-doubt and
cultural shame to a man who sees himself as a leader in his school district. Now
he believes that he has something to offer his community. Randy is a
beautiful example of one who has been liberated by purpose. The ability to
chart his own course and discover how he wants to contribute to his community
has empowered him. At one point he was oppressed by a destructive view
of self and focused only on survival. Now he is thriving and focused on giving
back. Hollering theology seeks to confront the attitude of hillbilly “survival”
and hillbilly shame. For liberated hillbillies surviving, having a job, and
staying in Central Appalachia is not enough. All of these
visions are pseudo-dreams propped up by the notion that hillbillies are doing
good if they simply “get by.” Liberated hillbillies, on the other hand, see
themselves as givers and agents of liberation.
Hollering theology confronts the hillbilly
stereotype and helps facilitates the shift from a dependent and despondent
hillbilly to one that is determined and dreaming. Through this project I have
sought to create a hollering theology which is relevant and contextualized to
the contemporary Central Appalachian realities. Creating
a hollering theology is a work that echoes previous contextualization projects
such as Minjung theology in Korea and
the Cameroonian liberationist work of Dr. Jean-Marc Ela. These previous works
seek to answer the question of God’s involvement with a group of people who
have been marginalized by their greater society. In Minjung theology, Korean liberationists are asking about freedom
for those who have been relegated to the fringes of society because of
economic, cultural, and social discrimination. They use the Exodus narrative to
empower the oppressed to be set free from their oppressors and experience a new
identity with a new land.
Hollering theology
also deals with land. Although hillbillies are not searching for a new land,
they are searching for an identity and a voice that allows them to reclaim
their land and its unique impact on their lives. Also, Minjung theology uses the Bible as a tool for liberation to free
minds and help the oppressed see that God is working for their liberation. This
liberation is critically felt in the work of God as God dramatically deals with
poverty.[2] Hollering theology
can find a guide in Minjung theology because hillbillies are marginalized
within greater American society. Liberation must be felt through a renewal of
economic justice as the crippling and shaming impacts of poverty are eradicated.
The work of Cameroonian
liberation theologian Dr. Jean-Marc Ela is also valuable. He sought to answer
the question of God’s meaning and the worship of God in the midst of poverty,
economic collapse, injustice and oppression. Africans are the forgotten people
of the earth according to Dr. Ela; my estimation is that hillbillies are
forgotten within American society. Hillbillies are often only called upon when
it is convenient for the nation to have a feel-good moment of charity or when
it is helpful to find a scapegoat for political disturbances. Dr. Ela
highlights how in the 15th century, the Portuguese sought to divide
up African coastlands for its plundering. A similar divide and plunder strategy
have also been felt by hillbillies in the 19th and 20th
centuries. Central Appalachia was plundered for capitalistic imperial ambitions,
thus leaving so many forgotten and impoverished in its tracks.[3] Dr. Ela’s work
leaves theologians wrestling with a riveting question: “how can people nourish
themselves and feast in worship while others are facing empty granaries?”[4] He goes on to talk
about how the powers of oppression rob the people of their very livelihood,
which is their land and their dignity. These probing theological questions can
also accompany the hollering theological task.
Hollering
theology is a contextualized way to give voice and space to the oppression of
the Central Appalachian people within the framework of First World liberation
theology. Although Dr. Deborah W. Little discusses a Theology of the Poor
in the Handbook of Liberation Theology,[5] the Appalachian
voice is not represented. This theological compilation explores various First
World liberation theologies but the hillbilly voice is neglected. The unique
hillbilly perspective is needed to illuminate the needs and desires of
Appalachian Americans. Hollering theology fills a gap in sub genres of
liberation theology. This project provides an overview of hollering theology
which is grounded in key claims of the broader liberation theology movement.
This
research is a launching point for more detailed and creative work as other
hillbilly theologians work within the claims of this theological lens. When
applying hollering theology in the UPIKE classroom, it was discovered that more
was needed to help support the civic engagement aspects of this project. Dr.
Landon Shepherd’s work focuses on discovering ways that college students define
service as well as the various barriers to student service engagement.
Partnership with this research could support a more robust understanding of
Central Appalachian civic engagement. Also, his forms for focus groups and the
basic questionnaire provided in his study would enhance the first section of
the survey I used for this study. In reflection, focus groups and follow up
questions to the pre/post course surveys must be added to clarify how UPIKE
students understand “volunteering in the community.” Dr. Shepherd’s work does
shed light on how colleges statistically under report their community
engagement and how other factors, such as economic barriers, prohibit
volunteering. His work, partnered with a survey on the time commitments of
UPIKE students can help identify a feasible community service schedule.
Another key partner discovered during this project is Dr.
Christine Ballengee-Morris. Her work on the hillbilly image could benefit
Appalachia religious studies, teacher, chaplains, and clergy if placed in
dialogue with hollering theology.[6] Appalachian
religious studies teachers, chaplains, and clergy could benefit to have her
work placed beside this hollering theology project. Doing so will help
educators think more deeply about the use of the hillbilly stereotype and how
it impacts Appalachian students. In addition to Dr. Ballengee-Morris’s work,
Ashley York’s documentary, Hillbilly, and the critically important study
by Dr. Anthony Harkins, Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon,
can be coupled together to look at the ways in which the hillbilly stereotype
impacts Appalachian students. Hollering theology can be further strengthened by
continuing to examine the hillbilly stereotype.
Hollering theology
is a powerful resource for local Central Appalachian churches. Teaching and
preaching from the lens of this theology can restore dignity and empower the
hillbilly that is made in God’s image. Doing so includes the hillbilly in
greater conversations among First World liberation theologies. Hollering
theology furthermore has the potential to become a theological lens for
economic leaders and Central Appalachian job creators. It can be utilized by
hillbillies in social entrepreneurship as a source of liberation for the
region.
At the university
level there is great potential for hollering theology to partnered with
disciplines like theatre and art. By offering an initial visual project on the
idea of being a hillbilly it can deepen students understanding of this
stereotype. Later in the semester, students could be assigned a project that
invites them to recaptures the hillbilly image. Students need to be given
encouragement, space, and agency to deal with the powerful shadow that the
hillbilly creates. This type of class could be used to empower
middle and high school students in a youth group as they deal with self-image
and the hillbilly stereotype. This hillbilly self-imaging must be put brought
into dialogue with the reality that the hillbilly is beloved and made in God’s
image. In this way, hollering theology can positively impact student self-image.[7]
Hollering theology
can also be utilized in local church Bible studies and preaching series. It
could prove particularly useful to ministers that are bi-vocational and could
be dispensed in various formats, including a podcast or YouTube series. Also, these Bible studies could be delivered in
addiction recovery treatment centers and detention facilities. Because
hollering theology is committed to the fact that the hillbillly stereotype is a
source of oppression that fuels destruction behavior, a liberating bible study
can help hurting people see themselves in the biblical story.
This research will
shape my future UPIKE classes. I plan to focus more on the introduction of
Appalachian themes and incorporate the People’s
Pastoral Letter: The Telling Takes Us Home. This will serve as a primary
document to help New Testament students wrestle with liberation ideas inside of
theological and culturally relevant spaces. Another idea for the New Testament course would be the implementation
of a hollering hermeneutics project. In
this project, done in the spirit of the Gospel
of Solentiname, the class will work on a Biblical commentary from a
hollering hermeneutical standpoint. Also, I am interested in creating a set of
hollering theological principals that could be used to inform biblical
engagement with students. Students could also use the paradigm to discover their
own Appalachian liberation heroes to lift as role models and push against the
hillbilly stereotype. Further ideas on the Appalachian Liberation class include
changing the course name to hollering theology and making specific changes the
course readings. Next time, students will be asked to do a community
interviewing project that will explore how people see the hillbilly stereotype
and how they see themselves.
Beyond the
classroom, I have deep desires to see the concepts of hollering theology impact
the larger UPIKE system. This work could be used by UPIKE to help shape new
programing and community-based education models. While these may not be credit
bearing, nevertheless a focus on community training and education can help
empower local people to engage with ideas, concepts, discussions, and pursuits
to battle internalized oppression. By using hollering theology, UPIKE could
offer listening sessions to alienated sections of Central Appalachia and
especially Eastern Kentucky. There is a need at UPIKE to do more grassroots
listening and development of needs-based programing which comes from the
theologically informed heart of the university. The
ordinary and marginalized are the people who need to be heard and who are
entitled to have a theology that connects to their holler. Hollering theology
can also help UPIKE continue to engage the complex narrative of Central Appalachia
and continue to work on helping the region have pride in the name “hillbilly."
Hollering theology would be greatly benefited by further
investing how Appalachian intersectionality can help UPIKE tell a more honest
story of its Appalachian identity.[8]
This can be used to address the four-fold stereotyping of the feudist, the meth-head,
the ignorant lazy hillbilly, and the helpless victim who is powerless to deal
and address the problems of the region.[9]
Such intervention must be grounded in the truth that UPIKE has all that it
needs for further growth and empowerment.
Beyond UPIKE within
further movements of hollering theology, I would like to explore greater
intersections with Marxist critique of higher education, especially as it
applies to education in Appalachia. Many personal questions have risen up
through this study. Does the suffering of Central Appalachia call for a change
of educational models that do not result in student debt? If so, how does
hollering theology seek to challenge or step outside the system? The hollering theological motif can be further
empowered by creating a subgroup of the Appalachian
College Association chaplains and religion professors who want to work on
liberative praxis through the classroom or spiritual life campus activities.
This theological lens could be explored by Appalachian campus ministries and
divisions of civic engagement or in places in which this theology could be
discussed and used as a framework to help more students engage with faith and
justice.
In this project, I
was deeply moved to know more about internalized oppression and how that impacts
many types of people. Through this study, I am now hearing many social concerns
and social prophets differently. I am now even hearing Martin Luther King Jr.
and other black liberationists differently as so many are championing a world
that does not fuel internalized hate. It is clear that hillbillies would
benefit from further exploring the ways in which internalized oppression plays
out as a tool for Appalachian Americans who oppress one another, especially through
religious means.[10]
Hollering theology can further intersect with Black theology by reflecting on
the Affrilachian movement. Jingoism
will only lead to hillbilly death because the nation and the world is rapidly
becoming more integrated.
A danger with
implementing hollering theology is the temptation to try to control and dictate
what critical hillbilly awakening will look like. This theology must continue to value
freedom and agency so deeply that it appreciates when students find their voice
and challenge the professor when necessary. This implementation is about an
expanded hillbilly vision that sees oneself as the agent of change rather than
one who is expected to change. Hollering theology only has an expectation of
freedom and agency as its goal.
As the hollering theologian seeks to empower the awakening
of freedom and agency, this work should come with a pastoral warning: doing
this work will transform he way one sees reality. Diving into liberation
theology has radically shaken my faith and impacted how I see the world. As I journeyed with
my research I wanted to challenge everything, particularly the dominant systems
that I find myself in. This fight motif, however, slowly started to choke out
my spiritual journey and made me question everything. If I were to start this project again, I
would start the project with a spiritual director and have an accountability
system for active spiritual disciplines. When using hollering theology, it is
imperative to firstly be formed and accountable to a community of committed
Christians. The great work of Boff, Ellacuria, and many others happened as they
were inside a spirituality, a tradition, and a community of faith. Community
identity and communal formation is critical for liberation spirituality. Without
a deep spirituality, liberation work can transform into a softer version of
oppression.
Even though the work is spiritually challenging, hollering
theologians need to be brave and speak truth to those in the dominant
communities. Hollering theologians will be seen as a thorn in the side of many as
this work, at times, demands calling out unjust system no matter how sacred or
cherished they might be. Also, if the hollering theologian is of the dominant
class, one must be prepared to use their voice and platform to create space for
other voices to be heard especially in comfortable single narrative settings like
much of Central Appalachia. Very often, prophetic speaking is tense, so then, hollering
theologians need to be deeply committed to nonviolence. Being open to a
nonviolent life which is rooted in the total empowerment of the other is
essential to hollering theology. One must be nonviolent as violence is anything
that limits people or prevents people from living into a better future.[11]
As
the hollering theologian takes risks in places of power and admits that things
must change, they must also call out one’s own duplicity and participation in
the process of profiting from systems of oppression. Personally, this has been
the hardest lesson. Critical awakening must happen first in the practitioner
and continue to happen as the liberation theologian seeks deeper engagement
with students and society. Therefore, hollering theology calls for bold and
searing self-reflection. As one dives into this work, the preeminent
recommendation is to expect change and challenge. Be ready to be forced to
decide to become a social change agent on behalf for those who are not free or
to be a silent complicit agent who continues to profit on the backs of others. [12] My most personal question in this study has focused on how
I am benefiting from oppression and privilege at UPIKE. The fact that I was
able to explore and teach various classes and ideas has only come about due to
my privilege. In light of this insight, I am currently asking myself how I can
either move aside to make a way for those of minority status or how I can use
my voice and platform to help those in minority positions get a place at tables
of influence and power.
Overall,
the experiment of critically teaching hollering theology at UPIKE was a worthy
study because it engaged over 300 students in various liberation themes while
giving a few students an intense primer on the topic. The study also allowed
some key conversations with campus leaders to deepen insights and converse
about further liberation ideas at UPIKE. The study allowed students to see the
value of research and the interest their university has on their culture and
lived experiences. Individual students expressed appreciation and new insight.
Student Nathan said, “You have me thinking a lot about things that are going on
now. I am seeing things that make me ask a lot of questions.” Nathan is now in
medical school and is an advocate for racial justice, nonviolent work, and the
betterment of his community. Nathan is a model student and a great community
member who was brilliant and engaging before any of this study, yet with the
help of this study, he has been given further tools and questions to reexamine
his community. Another student, Wes, called long after his participation in the
Appalachian Liberation course to
share his insights of solidarity. He shared how the concept of solidarity has shaped
the place he lives. He said,
I chose to live in a neighborhood that is
on the east side of Vegas. Many of the students that live here are marginalized
by the greater communities of the city. I chose to live here to experience the
struggle that the neighborhood might bring. From gentrification to sex
trafficking. I chose solidarity with the student I would be teaching.
Solidarity is a big part of my conviction. I do not think you can fully
practice compassion unless you have seen the marginalized struggle firsthand
and been there to provide support. Not help, but support. The marginalized do
not need our help, they are strong and resilient, they do need the support of
the community and a kind voice.[13]
When hearing from Nathan and
Wes, it has made this study personally enrichening even though at times, this
study has put me on the edge of chaos. The path of liberation created some
spiritually dry places, yet it also ignited a prophetic fire that spilled out
in personal community organizing. From universal health care rallies, to Black Lives Matter street organizing, to
working on a beloved community center for LGBTQ+ for Eastern Kentucky, and
active and nonviolent engagement with white supremacists when they came to
town, the creation of hollering theology has challenged me to act. Hollering
theology as forced me to act in my own local historic moments of oppression. Beyond
large scale and community opportunities, the study has made me more
collaborative and engaged with opening the classroom for students to be
co-facilitators and active participants, rather than ones who are simply
deposited information from the sage on the stage.
In this study, I have been
led to further inspired service for UPIKE, especially when exploring Rev. David
Blythe’s liberation vision for the first students of UPIKE. The project also provided
a spiritual mentor in the work of academic activism. Father Ignacio Ellacuria
now serves as a model for a liberation academic who committed his life to the
enhancement of a university for the social good and communal liberation of a
region. Father Ellacuria was no longer a slave to anyone’s image, stereotype,
or opinion, as he was free to operate and live as Jesus was leading him. Dr.
Ellacuria will be a lifelong mentor and my discovery of his work and life has
made this study personally enriching.
In the teachings of Father
Ellacuria, I have been moved to see the work of a university in a radically
different way. Rather than simply seeing the university as a tool for
individual education, I now see the university as a communal agent of
liberation for the poor and oppressed. Furthermore, because of this study, I
now first ask how another sees reality and what power dynamics are at play before
I pick course materials, plan lessons, or engage in community organizing. I am more
alert to the damaging ways that stereotypes play out on the Appalachian people
and how the impact of the hillbilly stereotype silently suffocates people,
including myself. No more will I allow Appalachian people to be shamed and
disregarded for their accent, thoughts, or values. Homer Marcum illuminates
this pain when recounting a moment when the media came to Martin County Kentucky
to report on the War on Poverty. He
says,
My mother was a first-grade teacher, and a
reporter had interviewed Thelma, her teacher’s aide, and promised to send her a
copy of the article if she would agree to answer a few questions.
Accommodatingly, she did, and when the magazine article arrived in the mail,
she asked my mother to read it to her. I was there. I saw her cry when she
heard what the reporter had said about her and the condition of her home and
the struggles her family endured to survive. Thelma, this hard-working mother,
was hurt and embarrassed to know that the world had been told her story in such
a way.[14]
For Thelma and the thousands like her, this study is offered as a way to
stand up and speak out for the needs of hillbillies.
In conclusion, the work of hollering theology is ultimately
a work of listening. Listening to poor and oppressed from such places as El
Salvador, Brazil, Tamil Nadu, and Feds Creek, Kentucky is the first step in
empowering hillbilly people to see themselves in God’s story. Just like the
bootleggers of old who distilled moonshine and then hid it in their boots,
hollering theology is a bootlegged theology that creatively seeks to empower
students at UPIKE to see their holler differently. It invites students to act
locally for the freedom of themselves and their neighbors rather than being
dependent on help from the outside. It is a trickster way of being Christian in
Central Appalachia that embraces the hillbilly Christ and sees the Trinity as
the family that provides belonging and identity. Hollering theology sees
poverty, drug addiction, early deaths, degrading employment, and meaninglessness,
but loudly declares this is not the only story or dominant narrative of Central
Appalachia. Yes, there are many poor hillbillies but there are also pride
rallies, state of the art indoor greenhouses, leading addiction recovery
models, medical schools, coal miners who code, and disabled men leading
educational communities. Hollering
theology is the work of God and it is the cultural expression which seeks to
empower hillbillies toward freedom.
This
work concludes where it started. We return to 1964 and we look again to Tom
Fletcher’s tar paper covered porch, with President Johnson observing the eight poor
children, and the flash bulbs popping from the media that surrounds them. As
one camera man tears up seeing the hillbilly plight, another camera man
partially smiles, thinking to himself, “these pictures have a chance to make the
national front page.” This media frenzy, however, is deeply missing the more newsworthy
event of the region. About 30 miles down the road, Dr. Mark Dempsey was busy
all day treating a wide variety of poor hillbillies. At this point, Dr. Dempsey
had treated thousands of marginalized and forgotten people in the hollers of
Central Appalachia. As the cameras flashed in Martin County, later that night,
Dr. Dempsey would go home and work on a newspaper article advocating for
socialized medicine for the people of Appalachia. Later as he sat at his type
writer he would type:
All classes of people regardless of who they are, should
be trained to do skilled work and be disease free. Our government seems to take
the attitude that, if you can't do something for yourself then it won't be
done. One man can't shoot a rocket to the moon. It takes the experts, the
specialists. It takes the collective effort on the part of the people through
the government. One person can't give an education to eliminate the illiteracy
and the disease of our people. Only the government and the scientists and the
experts can do this. I have practiced medicine in more rich and poor homes
than any other doctor in Eastern Kentucky. I have practiced among the Negro,
the Jew, the Italian, the Indian. They are all the same. The Negroes treated me
better than anyone has ever treated me. The people in the lower economic class
are being neglected. The experts should treat them. They should be free of
disease.[15]
[2] “Minjung theology,” University of Calgary, Accessed
December 19, 2020, https://ctm.uca.edu.au/lay-ministries/minjung-theology/
[3]
Jean-Marc Ela1 and Philemon Beghela, “Rethinking African Theology: Exploring
the God who Liberates,” University of South Africa, 2015, Accessed July 15,
2020, http://www.scielo.org.za/pdf/she/v38s1/04.pdf
[4]
Jean-Marc Elal, “The granary is empty,” Liberation Theology: An Introductory
Reader, Curt Cadorette, ed., Orbis, 1992, 64.
[5]
Deborah W. Little. Handbook of U.S. Theologies of Liberation, 274.
[8] Schumann,
46.
[9] Rusty
Justice, Personal Conversation. October 18, 2019.
[10] Ellacuria
cited in Kevin Burke in The Ground
Beneath the Cross: The Theology of Ignacio Ellacuría, Georgetown Press,
2000, 182.
[13]
Wes Rose, private phone conversation, December 30, 2020.
[15]
Dr. Mark Dempsey, Floyd Times 1964,
cited by Roger Hicks in My Appalachian
Life, June 25, 2017, Accessed January 9, 2021, https://myappalachianlife.blogspot.com/2017/06/some-appalachian-wisdom-about-health.html
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