Amanda Fickey is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky. Amanda’s research interests include economic geography, diverse economies, alternative economic and political spaces, neoliberalism, political economy, regional economic development and critical pedagogy; she has authored papers in these areas for the Journal of Appalachian Studies, Geography Compass, and disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory and has work forthcoming in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, the Journal of Economic Geography, and Southern Spaces. Under the guidance of her dissertation advisor, Dr. Michael Samers, Amanda’s dissertation research examines tensions that exist within conventional economic development strategies and alternative economic practices in the context of Eastern Kentucky’s handicraft industry. Her recent paper, Rendering Regional Development Technical: An Examination of “Appalachia: A Report by the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission, 1964,” received the 2011 Carl A. Ross Graduate/Undergraduate Research Award from the Appalachian Studies Association.
Amanda has also received a 2011 Certificate for Outstanding Teaching from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, the 2010 Women in Geography Education Award from the National Council for Geographic Education, a Dissertation Enhancement Award from the University of Kentucky, the 2009 Edith Schwab Memorial Scholarship, a James Brown Research Award for Graduate Research in Appalachia from the University of Kentucky, a University of Kentucky Student Government Association Graduate Student Scholarship and two Kentucky Oral History Commission Project Grants from the State of Kentucky. Amanda currently serves as a strategic planning committee member for the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center, a steering committee member for the University of Kentucky Appalachian Research Community, and as the Graduate Student Vice-President for the University of Kentucky Chapter of the prestigious honor society, Phi Kappa Phi.
In addition to these achievements, in spring 2010, Amanda was selected to participate in an international economic development program which allowed her the opportunity to conduct research beyond Appalachia in the highlands and islands region of Scotland. Amanda traveled to Scotland with 7 students and 3 faculty members from the Department of Community Leadership and Development at the University of Kentucky. Results of her analysis of alternative food networks on the Isle of Bute are forthcoming in the Royal Scottish Geographical Society magazine, The Geographer.
Before coming to the University of Kentucky, Amanda served as the arts and cultural outreach coordinator for The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky. She holds a BA in History from the University of Kentucky and an MA in Folk Studies with a concentration in Historic Preservation from Western Kentucky University where she received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology as well as the Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Potter College of Arts and Sciences.
To learn more about the arts and crafts community in Eastern Kentucky, feel free to contact Amanda at Amanda.fickey@uky.edu or visit the following sites:
Appalachian Artisan Center
http://www.artisancenter.net/
David Appalachian Crafts
http://davidapp.007gb.com/index.html
Kentucky Appalachian Craft Council
http://www.centertech.com/arts/about/index.php
Kentucky Arts Council
http://artscouncil.ky.gov/
Kentucky Artisan Center
http://www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov/
Red Bird Mission Crafts
http://www.rbmission.org/Ministries/communityo.html
Sheltowee Artisans
http://www.sheltoweeart.com/ |
