The Ozarks is a place often described by outsiders as full of hillbillies, moonshiners, witch doctors and backwoods neighbors. Three interdisciplinary faculty are teaming up to teach an Honors College Signature Seminar to dispel the myths about the Ozarks, but most importantly, engage students in responsibly documenting the stories, folklore and culture of the 55,000 square miles spanning Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. 

Jared Phillips, teaching associate professor of history; Virginia Siegel, professor of practice, oral historian and director of Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts; and Joshua Youngblood, Instruction and Outreach Unit head for the University Libraries Special Collections, will bring unique perspectives to examine the four-state region.

“The overall-wearing hillbilly and moonshine narrative has been wielded against this place in a lot of ways, but we are way more complicated than that,” Phillips argued. “As opposed to having that culture foisted upon us, how do we as citizens take an active role in the creation of the narrative and put forth a new vision?”

The faculty team will discuss the past, present and future of the Ozarks in their public lecture “Ozarks Culture” at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Gearhart Hall Auditorium (GEAR 26). The campus community and general public are invited to the lecture.

The lecture will preview their spring 2024 Honors College Signature Seminar—Ozarks Culture. Please fill out this online interest form before attending the public lecture.  

Crafting Culture

By examining the history, literature and cultures of the Ozarks through diverse lenses, students in the course will explore how Ozarkers have engaged in meaning-making on the plateau and throughout the nation during the 20th century, impacting everything from country music to global commerce.  

“Culture is living and breathing,” Siegel added. “As a folklorist, I’m interested in reminding people that traditions are conservative in that they endure over time, but they are equally quite dynamic. We are constantly creating new traditions every day.”   

The course is aimed to push students to think beyond the traditional narratives to see how the Ozarks have evolved in the past 50 years to include a far more cosmopolitan community than generally understood by highlighting the stories of immigrants, LGBTQIA+ and the region'’s longstanding communities of color.  

“Students will think about how memories are collected – where does the evidence from studying the past and your current society come from?” Youngblood asked. “When thinking of the Ozarks in archives – each time something has been saved, it’s a decision. Who is in the position to make that decision?”  

Frozen in Time vs. Fired Up

As part of the course, students will complete hands-on work documenting Ozark culture, helping them better understand the traditions and stories that have defined this region for decades and how they can actively create a more representative account moving forward.  

“Anyone who is teaching students today has to be focused on critical thinking,” Youngblood said. “If you’re walking down the street, this is a topic you’re interacting with. We are going to work with students to think critically about what’s around them, what came before and what’s coming after.”  

While bringing attention to and documenting many facets of the Ozarks, the course will also discuss Vance Randolph’s texts and their role in perpetuating Ozark stereotypes.  

“Vance Randolph captured a frozen-in-time picture of the Ozarks,” Siegel said, adding that depictions of the region over the decades have been heavily influenced by the editorial choices of the early collections and stories about the area. “Ozark culture is so very alive, and there's a whole world of people who are creating and doing neat things. I think it looks very different than someone trying to capture it from the outside.”  

Although the course will examine classic texts, nature and history, all three faculty hope students walk away with a broadened worldview and an appetite for positive change.   

“This course will get students fired up,” Philips said. “Those are the students who become interested in taking part in our civic and cultural process. They're going to become leaders in community activism and on campus. They'’re going to carry very Ozark independent values forward to that next generation.”  

About Jared Phillips

Phillips and his wife, Lindi, run a farm on the western edge of the Arkansas Ozarks where they use draft horses to raise heritage sheep, hogs and forage crops. In addition to farming, Jared teaches Ozarks history, rural development, human rights and food systems at the U of A in the History Department.  
Among his other projects, Phillips helped found the Ozarkansas Tool Library and is the author of Hipbillies: Deep Revolution in the Arkansas Ozarks (University of Arkansas Press, 2019). His current work examines agrarian futures in rural communities as a means to counter the excesses of globalization. 

About Virginia Siegel 

Originally from Ohio, Siegel earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in historic preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design, which focused on the preservation of architecture.  

Siegel went on to earn her Master of Arts in folk studies from Western Kentucky University. She served as the folklife specialist for the Kentucky Folklife Program, which is located within Western Kentucky University'’s Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology.  

At the U of A, she directs Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts, a statewide public folk arts program of the University of Libraries Special Collections Division dedicated to the mission of “documenting, presenting and sustaining Arkansas’ living traditional arts and cultural heritage.  

About Joshua Youngblood

Youngblood is the instruction and outreach unit head for the Special Collections division of the University of Arkansas Libraries, where he also serves as the history and rare books librarian.  

Before joining the U of A in 2011, he was a member of the Florida Memory Project of the State Archives of Florida. In addition to assisting students and researchers at the university and across the state of Arkansas, Youngblood leads development of Special Collections' rare and Arkansas print collections.  

He has published on the history of Arkansas, lynching and reform movements in the American South, and primary source-based learning. A certified archivist, he is immediate a president of the Society of Southwest Archivists and current board member of the Washington County (Arkansas) Historical Society. 

Signature Seminars Explore Diverse Topics

The Science, Politics and Culture of Dinosaurs is one of three Honors College Signature Seminars scheduled for spring 2024. Other topics to be explored include Engineering Antiquity — taught by Kevin Hall, university professor of civil engineering — and The Science, Politics and Culture of Dinosaurs — taught by Celina Suarez, an associate professor of geosciences. 

Deans of each college may nominate professors to participate in this program, and those selected to teach will become Dean’s Fellows in the Honors College.     

Honors students must apply to participate, and those selected will be designated Dean’s Signature Scholars. The course application is posted online on the Signature Seminars web page. The deadline to apply is Sunday, Oct. 29.   

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university’s top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $80,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students’ academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. All Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research. 

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.