Taylor Gilliam

Education

M.A. Linguistics, University of Virginia 2021
B.A. English Literature, Bethel College 2017
B.A. TESOL, Bethel College 2017

Specializations

Central Appalachia, Multimodality, Space and Place, Class and Education, Cultural Geography

My dissertation research considers place-making in Central Appalachia. I look to the ways community revitalization projects and place-based activist groups in Southwest Virginia work to address the region's past and present status as a sacrifice zone. I am especially interested in the role of embodied interaction and spatial representations in the expression and practice of place(d) identity. I employ multimodal interaction analysis to observe the ways residents collaboratively narrate place, move in and through it, and make and enact decisions to change it. I consider these practices as they occur in negotiation with the hegemonic spatial production of the region by popular discourse, corporate bodies, and federal conservation agencies.

While I situate my theoretical frame and methods in linguistic anthropology, I draw heavily from the anthropology of space and place, environmental anthropology, critical geography, and Appalachian studies. Further, this research is strongly informed by my family’s history and practice of place(d) connection in the region.