THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF THE FOXFIRE CULTURAL JOURNALISM PROGRAM by JULIE

294 Pages·2011·28.65 MB·English

THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF THE FOXF IRE CULTURAL JOURNALISM PROGRAM
by
JULIE LYNN OLIVER
(Under the Direction of Roger Hill)
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to examine the history and legacy of the Foxfire program
founded in Rabun County, Georgia in 1966; its contribution as a locally produced educational
program and significance in the history of education in the state of Georgia and the southern
Appalachian region of the United States. The following questions guided the research: (a) What
ideas inspired and motivated Eliot Wigginton to create a program like Foxfire? (b) What were
the features and goals of the Foxfire program during its formative years? (c) What were the
qualities that made Foxfire popular with the local Rabun County community and gave Foxfire an
audience outside Rabun County? (d) What was the teaching and learning environment like at
Rabun Gap School during the Foxfire years? (e) What was Foxfire’s significance and impact as
an educational program? (f) How does Foxfire compare to other innovative curriculum programs
founded earlier and contemporaneously? And (g) How did Foxfire survive despite national and
state trends toward “back to basics” and standards-based education; what were the changes that
were brought to the program as a result?
The research design chosen for this project was an intrinsic case study that explored the
unique and distinctive qualities of the Foxfire cultural journalism program. The chosen
perspective was post-colonial due to the Foxfire Program’s focus on an internally colonized
region and people of the United States southern Appalachia. The sources used featured extensive
primary source documents associated with the Foxfire program.
Findings of this study retrace the historical background of the Foxfire program and that
program’s founder, Eliot Wigginton’s, connections to Rabun County prior to founding Foxfire.
This study also revealed the educational foundations of the school that gave birth to the Foxfire
program, the Rabun Gap - Nacoochee School. The Foxfire pedagogical approach was confirmed
to be Dewey-like but not originally Dewey-inspired.
Among the original conclusions of this research were that Foxfire and its student
participants and adult informants were contributing members of two socio-cultural movements
formed contemporaneously with Foxfire - the Appalachian cultural revival and the back-to-the-
land movements.

INDEX WORDS: Foxfire, Cultural Journalism, Curriculum, Eliot Wigginton, Rabun County,
Georgia, History of Georgia education, education in southern Appalachia,
Folk schools, The Foxfire Approach to Teaching and Learning.
THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF THE FOXFIRE CULTURAL JOURNALISM PROGRAM

by

JULIE LYNN OLIVER
BS, North Georgia College (Now North Georgia College and State University), 1988
MA, Armstrong State College (Now Armstrong Atlantic State University), 1996

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2011
© 2011
Julie L. Oliver
All Rights Reserved
THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF THE FOXFIRE CULTURAL JOURNALISM PROGRAM

by

JULIE LYNN OLIVER

Major Professor: Roger B. Hill
Committee: Clifton Smith
Karen Jones

Electronic Version Approved:

Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
May 2011
iv

DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my children Sydney and Stephanie. Your presence in my
life is my sole inspiration and motivation. This project took me away from you in mind and spirit
and sometimes physically, but your words of encouragement and thoughtful actions helped keep
me going. I thank you for being patient and supportive. I love you.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are numerous individuals that I would like to acknowledge as instrumental in the
successful completion of this dissertation. Without their support, it would have been impossible
for me to complete this research project in the way that I envisioned it. I was inspired, motivated
and encouraged to explore other avenues of discovery based on their suggestions. Their insights,
I believe, helped me improve the quality and relevance of my research.
First, the Foxfire Fund personnel were always prompt in addressing any questions or
concerns I had about Foxfire. They provided me with the names of possible contacts and more
importantly, they allowed me generous access to the Foxfire museum property and their
archives.
Second, I would like to thank the personnel at the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School who
allowed me generous access to the school grounds including the original Foxfire classroom.
They also arranged a most fortuitous meeting with their archivist who introduced me that day to
what proved to be the most pivotal contact I made during the course of this research, an archivist
employed part time by both UGA and the Rabun Gap- Nacoochee School. She proved to me the
axiom, “the archivist is the historian’s best friend.” She led me to the Hambidge Center for
further research and informed me of the large repository of personal correspondence of Eliot
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Wigginton regarding Foxfire at the Georgia Archives in Morrow, Georgia. The results of her tips
allowed me to make connections in the history of Foxfire that were valuable to my research.
Third, I would like to thank my committee for allowing me to focus my research on the
Foxfire program. From the moment I first heard of it, I had an insatiable curiosity about Foxfire’s
true place in American educational history. My original committee chair, Dr. Diane Napier,
encouraged me from the beginning to take on this project and let me choose a design that I
favored, the case study, for the project. She provided me much needed guidance on the post-
colonial perspective, an expertise of hers, and one that I agreed fit well in explaining Foxfire’s
legacy. Most of all she always provided words of encouragement that allowed me to stay focused
on seeing this project through. Her editing skills were crucial to the overall success of this
project.
Dr. John Napier provided me the source material that helped me sharpen my
understanding of other key curricular programs that happened contemporaneously with Foxfire,
and Dr. Reba Jo Blase was always very positive and upbeat with support and encouragement that
my topic and project had merit. Dr. Roger Hill, who took over as my committee chair, gave me a
challenge to look deeper into the motivations and influences behind the founding of Foxfire, a
challenge I believe I accepted and the results of which are presented in this dissertation. That fact
as much as any other sets this research apart from any other literature I have ever seen on
Foxfire. Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones, thank you for your guidance and participation as committee
members. Thank you also to Dr. Dotts who provided me excellent suggestions for revisions in
the final copies of this work.
I would also like to thank the Foxfire practitioners with whom I had the pleasure of
spending time and interviewing. These individuals have supported Foxfire for most of their adult
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lives and their commitment to upholding the Foxfire legacy as worthy and valuable is evident in
everything they say and do. I could not have found better sources to discuss the meaning of
Foxfire with than these persons. I hope I do Foxfire justice for their sake.

Thank you to all my colleagues and students at University of Arkansas Fort Smith. They
have given the time and encouragement to get this project done. I give a special thanks to the
professor of history and native Arkansan, with whom I share a Foxfire bond. From the first time
I interviewed at UAFS, he was interested in discussing Foxfire with me, a program that had
inspired him many years before as a teacher in the Ozarks.
Finally, thanks also to my children who are very patient with their mom and have given
me the space I needed to complete this project even when it meant I could not give them the time
and attention they deserved or needed. Thanks also to W.G.O. for all the support and
encouragement, and admirably performing necessary babysitting and housekeeping duties
whenever called upon. I know you will be proud when this is all over. I could not have done it
without you!
viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER
1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................1
Setting of the Study ..................................................................................................1
Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................2
Background of the Study .........................................................................................5
Rationale for the Study ............................................................................................6
General Goals for the Study .....................................................................................8
Specific Objectives ..................................................................................................9
Research Questions ................................................................................................11
Design and Theoretical Perspective .......................................................................12
Organization of the Case Study .............................................................................12
Significance of the Study .......................................................................................14
Limitations of the Study.........................................................................................14
Conclusion .............................................................................................................16
2 Review of the Scholarly Literature ..............................................................................17
Introduction ............................................................................................................17
Historiography of Curriculum Historians and Writers ..........................................17