.a new term to explore!.

Fellow blogger, Wendy Welch, a used bookstore owner in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia who holds her PhD in Ethnography, is currently working on a book that will be published very soon.  While reading one of her posts, I came upon her term, "trailer park intellectuals" which she defines as: "people who are intelligent yet didn’t get a higher education, who often have jobs that don’t require–or perhaps even value–their innate smartness and problem-solving abilities."  Since reading her interesting concept I've been fascinated by this idea, especially since I've been 'building' an Appalachian composition class focusing on the stereotypes, traditions, and controversies (Mountaintop Removal, marijuana, moonshine, methamphetamine production, blurring lines of church and state) in the Appalachian region.  My class is currently titled "Place and Heritage: Where In the World Is Appalachia?"

Since learning about this term Wendy and I have communicated briefly about the possibility of the term having negative connotations.  Negative or not, I thought the term (and the people it serves to define) would definitely be an interesting concept to discuss in my future Appalachian class (when I do get to teach it, that is).  In the Composition/Rhetoric course I'm currently taking, we've been reading lots of articles that discuss the working-class student in the academy and the transitions they must make within this new discourse community.  This term seemed to relate, somewhat, to some of the ideas expressed in those articles (related blog posts coming soon!).  And as a student/teacher from a working-class family, I understand first-hand how the language of the academy can seem 'exclusive.' Currently, I think society (and most people) have a certain person/people, language, and conventions in mind when they think 'intellectual,' and I think and agree that it should be changed!  There are many different kinds of 'intellectual' and many different distinctions that people might not consider - in my own family, my dad gutted, designed, and rebuilt the entire inside of our Sears-Roebuck house and my mother can cross-stitch any pattern she sees from memory.  I'm proud of the intellectuals I came from and the intellectual I've become.  Perhaps it might do us all some good in considering: what does 'intellectual' really mean? 

Getting back to Wendy's term I thought it would be engaging to ask my current ENG 102 students what they thought about the term - a somewhat 'objective' audience since they're not from the Appalachian region. The students come from lower-middle to middle-class background, some from rural farm towns in Ohio and others from more urbanized centers like Cincinnati and Columbus.  The university is public liberal arts and my students' majors range from nursing to engineering to primary education.  I framed the discussion by writing the term, 'trailer park intellectuals' on the board and asking them two questions:

(1) seeing this term for the first time what do you think this term means?
(2) do you think it has negative/positive/both connotations?

My students wrote their answers anonymously on scraps of paper and handed them in, and then we discussed it briefly as a class.  Students were eager to share their ideas and it seemed to really spark some interest among the group.  Here are some highlights from their responses (the #s refer to the question they answered from above)...

(1) the first reaction that I get is poor or I don't know why but redneck (2) the term sounds negative to me...

(1) I feel as if it is speaking upon a low-class citizen.  (2) I would feel offended to be called something with the word 'trailer park'


(1) Trailer park intellectuals seems to [refer to] someone from a lower income or class background who show some wisdom despite [their] surrounding (2) I believe it can be both taken negatively as degrading and positively as a sense of pride in the same way terms such as 'ghetto' or 'redneck' have been


(1) people who are really creative in a trailer park style, example: someone who wants a truck bed hot tub (2) white trash or poor


(1) people that live in a trailer park that are really resourceful with what they have (2) It could be negative if people talk down [to] them because they don't have a lot of money


(1) refers to someone who appears to be uneducated (2) I feel this term perpetuates a negative appeal


(*this one was very interesting and probably the most unlike the rest) - - (1) it means someone who knows a lot about trailer home parks (2) could be both because someone is needed to design the park and make sure it runs efficiently like an architect, but it could be used negatively to say all the person knows is about trailers, so must be low class


(1) intellectuals who live in a trailer park (2) it sort of implies that you are a smart trailer trash person which may not be a bad thing?


(1) I would think this means something nasty.  If you get called anything that involves 'trailer' it means you're trashy, dirty, and poor (2) this is negative


(*another one I found quite interesting in the words s/he chose) - - (1) it sounds like redneck 'smarts' (2) definitely negative because when you hear trailer park people [you] automatically think trash or redneck


(1) I think it means people who come from a poor background, but became educated and wealthier than they were growing up (2) It can have both.  They are saying you come from lower class people, but also saying you rose above it


(*yet another interesting observation) - - (1) sounds like someone who thinks they are very informed on a topic and will argue about it, but is only informed on one side of the issue (2) definitely has negative connotations basically sounds like an ignorant American


(1) People who come from bad situations but thrive (Oprah) (2) it would be insulting


(1) I think of someone who, though they may not be college-educated, are still 'well read,' or intelligent.  (2) It seems like a very back-handed compliment, and it does have negative connotations.

I thought all their insights were certainly interesting, considering their own lower- to middle-class backgrounds.  Many of the students I've taught at this school are first-generation (like me) and working-class, often working to pay for college.  I think many of them took 'offense' to the 'trailer park' because of the connotations that can often come from it thanks to television, movies, and the media in general.  When I told them why I was asking for their opinions, in connection to my Appalachian background, they said that they didn't think of the term as necessarily 'regional' but rather 'lower class background' around the world (although some did refer to 'redneck' and 'white trash' in their responses and those terms seem to be regional).  What an interesting conversation we had as a class!

Thank you to Wendy Welch for opening up this interesting discussion!  Readers, feel free to share your thoughts on the term 'trailer park intellectuals.' *Since writing this blog post, Wendy has decided to go with another term for her book: 'mountain intellectuals,' one that might not be taken so negatively (see Wendy's comment below).

*Apparently there's a reading list on Amazon called: "The Trailer Park Intellectual's Preferred Reading List"
picture came from here