Memorials

Remembering David Whisnant

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David Whisnant's death marks an immense loss to the Appalachian Studies community. He was an absolute giant in the field: a native son, a brilliant scholar, and an outstanding mentor. His enormous reach is difficult—perhaps impossible-- to fully capture. I thank Anne and ASA for sharing the beautiful obituary. And—he would not be at all surprised!--I have some things to add.  

 

David was a titanic innovator, game-changing in many ways. His scholarship helped found our discipline, and he modeled the interdisciplinary approach that is a hallmark of the field. His voracious curiosity led him to study and earn degrees in physics, English, and social work. I met him as he was serving on the faculty in UNC's English department.  He did not hold a formal degree in history, yet it is arguably here, especially in the fields of Appalachian history and cultural studies, that he made his most impressive contributions.

 

David Whisnant's intellectual brilliance was both legendary and literal, and so incisive as to be labeled dangerous. He was not afraid to speak truth as he saw it, and was willing to do so plainly, unvarnished. As a result he earned critics and enemies with an ease similar to that with which he earned respect, gratitude, friends, admirers, and a long parade of awards and accolades. 

 

In Appalachian Studies, David produced scholarship so groundbreaking that it has essentially launched whole sub-disciplines, and certainly become classic. 

 

Its forthright critiques of powerful economic players in the Appalachian region made it difficult for David to find a regional academic publisher for his now-classic Modernizing the Mountaineer. To describe the book's importance I can't do better than Appalachian historian Tyler Blethen, who wrote of this 1980 masterwork, republished with a new introduction in 1994 (and still in print with UT Press):  “Modernizing the Mountaineer is required reading for anyone studying the evolution of Appalachia and its place in American history since the Civil War. Whisnant’s use of the politics of culture as an interpretive tool is brilliant.” In the nearly half-century since this initially controversial book appeared, it has so profoundly shaped the field of Appalachian studies as to render its presence nearly invisible. 

 

All That is Native and Fine, published in 1985 and re-released with UNC Press 25 years later, earned similar acclaim, this time including a Pulitzer nomination. American Music called it "A stunning book," and "a model for future examinations of cultural intervention.” "Whisnant's research is superb," the reviewer noted, "his analysis powerful and sophisticated."  Closer to home, Appalachian historian Gordon McKinney had this to say: "A brief review cannot capture the depth, richness, and detail of this study. It is essential reading to all who would understand the role of folk and traditional culture in a regional setting." Again it is impossible to imagine today's field of Appalachian studies without the presence of this pathbreaking book, which has shaped Appalachian cultural studies and explorations of the region's history ever since it saw the light of day.

 

Later, in a move anticipating ASA's current international emphases, David explored the politics of culture in Nicaragua. He also anticipated the turn toward public history. Together with his wife, historian Anne Mitchell Whisnant--whose excellent work on the Blue Ridge Parkway he encouraged and helped shape--David worked on projects for the National Park Service. The pair did studies for Cape Lookout National Seashore and for the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site, an Appalachian site in western North Carolina. In this way the two scholars contributed their considerable intellectual resources to the crucial project of public history education. Ever the explorer, David also launched—with Anne's intellectual and technical support—the innovative digital-history blog Asheville Junction: Personal History, Family, Community, & Region. It too is an astonishing resource for Appalachian Studies, and it's full of his wry and witty personality.

 

In recognition of his exemplary contributions to Appalachia and Appalachian Studies, ASA awarded David Whisnant the prestigious Cratis D. Williams / James S. Brown Service Award in 2013. It could hardly have been more well deserved. In the 11 years between that award recognition and his death in December 2024, David kept on serving his home region, just as always. 

 

For me personally, however, even all this pales in comparison to David's incredibly generous support of my work as an Appalachian historian. His mentorship led to my own contributions to the field of Appalachian studies and thus to my various leadership roles within it. David was the only Appalachian Studies scholar on the humanities faculty at UNC when I was a graduate student there, groping toward my doctoral project. In an enormous stroke of good fortune without which I would neither be on UK faculty nor have had the pleasure of serving as ASA president, David agreed to serve on my doctoral committee. He could not have been a more insightful or generous scholarly mentor. 

 

Among other things, I am entirely convinced that without David there would have been no Weatherford Award for Blue Ridge Commons. David was on the one hand an immense skeptic of pretty much all my interpretations, and on the other hand a wonderfully tireless supporter and cheerleader. As I worked on the book it seemed to me that he sat invisibly on my shoulder, saying "Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!" His standards were exacting; I worked very hard to do so. And when he read the finished product David gifted me one of the most memorable and delicious phone calls I have ever received. I will forever be able to hear him speaking, in his beautiful and gravelly mountain voice, part chagrined but mostly proud, these precious words: "Kathy, you were right about the damn commons." 

 

It was characteristic, both of his unwavering commitment to intellectual rigor and of his equally deep commitment to generous collegiality, that he would take the time and make that call. He wanted to make sure I knew. 

 

David Whisnant was a truly exemplary mentor to me. Without him I simply could not have become the Appalachian scholar and teacher I am today. He was also my dearly beloved and deeply cherished friend. 

 

For all these reasons I want to suggest that we in ASA take a collective (if asynchronous) moment: bowing heads in honor of the late great Dr. David Whisnant, and for all he gave us.