by Mike Templeton

Writing about urban Appalachian culture for the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition has given me the opportunity to speak with people all over the country, from New York City, rural Alabama, Florida, and of course, right here at home. The point is that Appalachians currently live across the nation and beyond in both rural areas and in cities, which raises complex questions. Are there ways of understanding the very concept of “urban Appalachia” that have changed significantly in our current age? Have the migration patterns of Appalachians become something distinct from the great Appalachian migration of the 20th Century? It seems that these questions are starting to fuel some discussion among Appalachian writers and scholars.

A recent article on the website Expatalachians draws attention to the concept of a “Hillbilly Diaspora,” a broad range of geography around the United States where the presence of Appalachians has spread in ways that are often unpredictable. In contrast to the Appalachian migration we are used to talking about that led to urban Appalachian communities, such as those in Cincinnati, the Appalachian diaspora is something wider. In demographic terms, this diaspora seems to be mostly made up of younger people who are leaving the Appalachian region for greener pastures. What fuels the Appalachian diaspora is the same economic need that fueled the original Appalachian migration. This newer migration has differences, though, and it is costing the Appalachian states money in tax revenue and in the simple economics of a reduced population to engage the local economies. The author of the Expatalachian article, Nick Brumfield, explains that Appalachian states are deeply concerned about the loss of a younger population since “declining population numbers raise fears of fewer tax dollars, less economic activity, and a further decline in the region’s quality of life.” Brumfield’s thesis, however, is that there are distinct benefits to an Appalachian diaspora that these states may overlook.

A diaspora is simply a movement of people into areas beyond their place of origin. We are used to reading about or hearing this word in relation to populations like Irish people, those who have left India for other nations, and the older diasporas such as the wide Jewish diaspora around the world. An Appalachian diaspora would refer to populations who have moved out of the region toward other parts of the country. Brumfield argues that these populations frequently follow the behaviors patterns of other diaspora populations, many of which are familiar to us as urban Appalachians. For example, people tend to send money back home which helps stabilize the people who remain in Appalachia. They often foster economic investment in their homeplaces and home states, devoting their money and energies to supporting their places of origin.

We have historically viewed immigration as a process of people coming to a new country and taking on its ways, rather than keeping their own cultural traditions—in other words, joining the “melting pot.” There is a concept called transnationalism that arose at the end of the 20^th Century to account for the ways migrants have come to challenge these older notions of immigration and resettlement. Transnationalism might better be thought of as a “salad bowl,” as newer immigrants tend to maintain their original cultural identities and actively support their countries of origin economically and otherwise. Transnational communities actively participate economically and politically in both their host country and their country of origin, and they tend to carve out enclaves for themselves where even their language becomes the predominant language. At the same time, the lively presence of these immigrants helps transform the communities they come in contact with, often in terms of food, music, and other cultural experiences. This sounds a lot like the ways Appalachian populations have historically made their way into Cincinnati and other cities as urban Appalachians. Thomas E. Wagner and Phillip J. Obermiller have abundantly demonstrated, most recently in an article titled “Appalachians in Places Where There are no Mountains” which we profiled in this blog, how Appalachian populations migrated to urban areas like Cincinnati and simultaneously blended into the urban areas as productive members of society and maintained their Appalachian culture and identity. Our own Kith and Kin project is subtitled “Appalachians and the Making of Cincinnati,” as the stories we gather show the many ways urban Appalachians have shaped the city we know today. It would appear that Appalachian migrants have long functioned like the transnational migrant, and the contemporary Appalachian diaspora could benefit from these ideas, at least as a way of understanding what is happening.

The notion of an Appalachian diaspora is a great way to understand the migration patterns that exist today which do not follow the simpler lines of the old Appalachian migration, which tended to follow “stem and branch” resettlement, with people moving to areas where family and friends had paved the way. There is a greater ease of movement in the contemporary world, and the ways people are moving out of the Appalachian region are different. For example, many younger people leave for continued education or specific job opportunities and simply never return to their homeplaces. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as a brain-drain in Appalachia, although there are some facts that would counter this notion. The Appalachian Regional Commission recently showed there has been some increases in population in the Southern Appalachian region. There are also increases in the number of people attaining degrees in higher education, and there have been improvements in poverty levels and income levels. Some of this is attributable to better access to broadband internet which facilitates access to forms of employment and education for people in the Appalachian region.

Still, the concept of a contemporary Appalachian diaspora is worth further study. We have to wonder if the 21^st Century has given us a new and slightly altered version of the urban Appalachian. Might we be able to talk about an urban Appalachian population around the country that has taken up residence in urban centers for reasons that are entirely new? These are great questions for further study, and these are the kinds of questions that fuel the work of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition. What we mean when we talk about urban Appalachia is constantly changing because we as urban Appalachians are constantly growing, becoming new again. The migration patterns and cultural changes that laid the groundwork for urban Appalachian advocacy and study has continued to shift and change over the decades, and it continues to this day.

Michael Templeton is a writer, and independent scholar. He is the author of The Chief of Birds: A Memoir published with Erratum Press and Impossible to Believe, published by Iff Books. He is also the author of Collected Apoems, forthcoming from LJMcD Communications and the awaiting of awaiting: a novella, with Nut Hole Publishing. Check out his profile in UACC’s Cultural Directory. He has published numerous articles and essays on contemporary culture and works of creative non-fiction as well as experimental works and poetry. He lives in West Milton, Ohio with his wife who is an artist.