Whistlin And Crowin Women Of Apsulachia Sohn Summary

Appalachia: The Color with a Name
In the article, “Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia: Literacy Practices since College,” Katherine Kelleher Sohn tracks the literacy development of eight female Appalachian college graduates, all of whom are Sohn's former students. Sohn also does detailed case studies on three of the eight women. In her study, Sohn explores the varied ways that literacy can benefit women personally, professionally, and socially, and the effect that literacy and education have on people, particularly on people who are not “expected” to be educated. Sohn attempts to “challenge stereotypes about Appalachian women being ignorant” remote, uneducated, and behind and (428), and show the media and all “outside sources” that
She uses the description of the remoteness of the Appalachian dwellings to explain why it is such a different culture. Another rhetorical appeal used was an appeal to gender. This article was likely written predominantly for women. Sohn gives many examples of instances where women were “liberated” from rough lifestyles and abusive husbands. As Sohn states, “The women in this study illustrated that literacy is gender related. Men in the region are generally more suspicious of literacy, and more women than men finish high school, though only 5 percent of women in the five-county administrative district graduate from college” (433). Despite being educated and “liberated,” there were instances where the women were abused by their husbands, who felt threatened by their partner’s seemingly “superior skill.” Lucy; one of the women that Sohn studied, had a husband who “felt threatened by her literacy to the point of not allowing any printed material in the house; in addition, he physically abused her” (439). While I can’t relate to abusive relationships nor do I know what it is like to be a woman who lives in male dominant society, Sohn presented the facts in a way that made me understand the issues. I can clearly see how an uneducated man who is used to being more dominant than the female would be threatened by his now educated wife. Not only does she establish her educational dominance over him, he may also feel embarrassed by his lack of literacy in comparison