The field school in Appalachia is designed to introduce students to a variety of ethnographic field methods - including key informant interviews, photography, oral hitories, mapping and the design and implemetation of quantitative surveys.
Dr. Alexander has conducted research in this region for 25 years. Her research focuses broadly on interactions between wilderness management, local residents' habitation patterns, and recreation preferences.
The last Field School centered on the following questions:
What are best options for managing public lands?
How can we reconcile wilderness preservation and recreation demands?
How can conflicts over use most effectively be remedied?
How do rural Appalachian lifeways compare with other rural areas in the United States?
Is ecotourism a viable development strategy for Appalachia?
Five of the students presented their research at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Santa Fe in 2006.