17th Annual Ozarks Studies Symposium
September 19-21, 2024
Theme: The Political Economy of the Ozarks
Entrance to the symposium is free and pre-registration is not required. Those who
attend will be invited to register on site when they arrive.
All presenters are found in the Full Conference Program.
2024 Missouri State University-West Plains Keynote Speaker
Kimberly Harper, The State Historical Society of Missouri
Robert Boatright, the Buckfoot Gang, and the Fleecing of Middle America
Dr. Craig Albin
Professor of English, Missouri State University-West Plains
Presentation: What “The Money Proves”: Commodified Bodies in Tomato Red
Vincent S. Anderson
Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, Arkansas
Presentation: Fishing Tourism in the Ozarks: The Legacy of the Twin Lakes Region
Jo Van Arkel
Professor of English, Drury University
Presentation: Fairly Tales, Folklore, and Politics
Catherine Bahn
Falling Spring Publishing
Presentation: A Visual Study of Economic and Cultural Change along the Eleven Point National Wild
and Scenic River
Dr. Brooks Blevins
Noel Boyd Professor of Ozarks Studies, Missouri State University
Presentation: Grappling for the Gasconade: Property Rights and Changing Streams in Missouri
Michael Brasier
Skipjack Review
Presentation: Eat the Rich: On Taste and Fate of Art in Today's Political Economy
Joseph A. Farmer
Associate Professor of English, Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Oklahoma)
Presentation: Outhouses and Others: The Ozark Tacky Novels of Donald Harington
Dr. James Fowler
Professor of English emeritus, University of Central Arkansas
Presentation: Off the Farm: The Wages of Displacement in Phillip Howerton's Ozarks
Dr. John J. Han
Professor of English and Creative Writing, Missouri Baptist University
Presentation: Rural Poverty in Harold Bell Wright's Ozarks Novels
Myleea Hill
Professor of Communication, Arkansas State University
Presentation: A Visual Study of Economic and Cultural Change along the Eleven Point National Wild
and Scenic River
Danette House
Traditional Ozarks Storyteller
Presentation: Prosperity to Ruin: My Family's Journey from Their Ozarks' Settlement to the post-Civil
War Period
Jimmy Huff
Skipjack Review
Presentation: Eat the Rich: On Taste and Fate of Art in Today's Political Economy
Joseph Hutchinson
Graduate Student, University of Missouri
Presentation: From Mountaineers to Hillbillies: Crafting the Image of the Mountain South
Bob Kipfer
Missouri Master Naturalists
Presentation: Saving Bull Creek: A Trip Through Time
Dr. Dawn Larsen
Professor of Theatre, Francis Marion University
Presentation: Hills a Poppin': Shad Heller's Corn Crib Theatre
Presentation: Performance of Songs from Hillbilly Land
Skipjack Review
Presentation: Eat the Rich: On Taste and Fate of Art in Today's Political Economy Tomato Red
Dave Malone
Multi-Hyphenate Creative, West Plains, Missouri
Presentation: Deer Hunting to Dawt Mill: A Poetic Perspective on the Modern Political Economy of
the Ozarks
Robert McCormick
Author
Presentation: Abandoned Ozarks
Kim McCully-Mobley
Storyteller/Historian/Freelance Writer/Educator, and Co-Director,Aurora Houn' Dawg Alumni and Outreach Center
Presentation: Storytelling and Sense of Place: All Roads Lead Home
Timothy G. Nutt
Director,University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Presentation: Miss Vada and Her One-on-One Way: Vada Webb Sheid's Impact on the Ozarks and the Arkansas
General Assembly
Mike O'Brien
Journalist
Presentation: The Life of Gerald L.K. Smith
Dr. Jared Phillips
Teaching Associate Professor of History, University of Arkansas
Presentation: The Unified Approach: Rebuilding Ozark Small Farms via OOGA, OSFVP, and FORGE, 1980-2000
Leslie Reed
Instructor of English, Arkansas State University
Presentation: Big History in a Small Town: The Challenges of the Present in Attempts to Saving the
Past
Denise Henderson Vaughn
Independent Science Writer
Presentation: Fire in the Ozarks: Burning by Humans has Shaped the Landscape
Steve Wiegenstein
Author
Presentation: The Great Tornado of 1925
Steve Yates
Author
Presentation: Reading fromThe Lakes of Southern Hollow
