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Deborah Thompson
Director
of Programming Bruce,
First Floor
CPO 2166
| Office Hours: |
By Appointment |
Phone: 859-985-3257
Fax: 859-985-3903
E-Mail:
At Berea College since 2006
| Degrees |
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B.A., Hampshire College, 1981
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M.A., Appalachian State University, 1988
- Ph.D. candidate, University
of Kentucky, TBD
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| Special Interests |
- Appalachian Studies and place-based education
- Old time music – singing and playing banjo, guitar, dulcimer
- Cultural geography, especially the geography of music and religion
- Material culture, especially fiber arts and historic architecture
- Women’s studies
- Sustainable living
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| Papers and Publications |
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2006 - “Searching for Silenced Voices in Appalachia,” article for special issue of GeoJournal 65: 67-78, and subsequent book, tentatively titled, Geography and Music, Stanley Waterman and Stanley Brunn, editors; Kluwer Springer Publishers, Berlin and New York
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2006 - “Folklore and Folkways” chapter (co-written with Irene Moser) for A Handbook to Appalachia; Grace Toney Edwards, JoAnn Aust Asbury, and Ricky L. Cox, eds.; University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville
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2006 - Writer and Section Editor on “Intentional Communities,” co-editor (with Shirley Stewart Burns and Shaunna Scott) for “Families and Communities” section, writer on “Music” section for Encyclopedia of Appalachia; Jean Haskell and Rudy Abramson, eds.; University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville
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1998 - Transylvania: The Architectural History of a Mountain County. Co-authored with Laura A.W. Phillips. Raleigh, NC: Marblehead Publishing Co.
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| Biography |
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Deborah Thompson is a Ph.D. candidate in Geography at the University of Kentucky, working on her dissertation research on the interconnections of music and community in eastern Kentucky while working half time at Berea College. She served on the faculty of Union College in Barbourville, KY from 1991-2001, where she was director of the Appalachian Semester and assistant professor of Appalachian Studies. She has taught undergraduate-level courses in Appalachian Studies, Sociology, Geography, and Women’s Studies. She has also worked as a local arts council director, principal investigator for historic architecture surveys, and resident director for cultural study programs in Appalachia, Mexico, and the Texas-Mexico border.
She learned to play banjo, guitar, and dulcimer during the folk revival of the 1970s and has repertoire from living and playing in Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and New England. Since 1976, she has performed both solo and with various groups, currently with the old time and Americana band, Skipjack. She has taught classes and workshops in Appalachian music and dance for all ages since 1984, including public school residencies and Elderhostels, Appalshop’s Banjo Day, Hindman Family Folk Week, Cowan Creek Music School, Augusta Heritage Center, and John C. Campbell Folk School. Her specialty is interpreting Appalachian music and dance, presenting programs that tie together the history of the Appalachian region, information about and demonstrations on various instruments, and a smattering of music theory. Her training includes many years of performance and playing with traditional musicians and interviewing traditional artists for cultural and heritage studies. |
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