Read This Book . . .

When I think about my favorite books of last year, handsdown, Neema Avashia’s Another Appalachia stands out. Neema Avashia’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from India, settling in West Virginia, where they were one of several Indian families who moved into the area. Avashia’s essays stand out to me because she discusses her culture as an Appalachian in such unique ways.

In one essay, she describes how she had many adoptive grandparents, who treated her as a member of their family. Her basketball coach, who was a white Appalachian man, chose her for his basketball teams, drove her to and from games, and created a position for her as an assistant coach when she aged out of the league. In Appalachia, we have this deep sense of community care, a form of mutual aid ingrained into the culture. We look out for our own.

Of course, this essay isn’t just about the great things about Appalachia. Avashia describes how during the election of 2016, she began to see friends from back home posting anti-immigrant beliefs on their social media. People she deeply loved and who were like family to her didn’t seem to understand that they were talking about families like hers.

At another time, Avashia and her partner Laura finally decided it was time to meet Avashia’s family and friends back in West Virginia. She felt incredibly nervous about bringing her serious girlfriend back to West Virginia, but for the most part, she found warm and accepting family and friends waiting for her.

All of these moments create the contradictions that Avashia has to hold in her mind as a queer Indolachian. Appalachia is an incredible place where the people have traditionally had to care for each other, so that part of the culture is incredibly strong. But there are also people who post hateful, xenophobic continent to their Facebook page. Avashia’s Another Appalachia is a love letter to West Virginia, but she must also reconcile that with an Appalachia that doesn’t always love her back.