College course on superstar is no easy A for students
University of Tennessee offffffffffffers class as part of an honors program.
The fifirst thing you need to know is that this is no easy elective. If you want to learn about country music superstar Dolly Parton, you’d better come prepared.
A course called Dolly’s America at the University of Tennessee’s main campus in Knoxville is devoted to the life story of Parton, who hails from nearby Sevier Count y in the eastern part of the state.
But this is much more than a surface-level study of a popular musician, said Lynn Sacco, the associate professor who teaches the course. It’s a thesis seminar meant for history students in the honors program, and it’s meant to give students a new way of understanding Appalachia’s modern history and Parton’s role in it.
“I t ’s re al ly ki nd of a nerdy class,” she said.
The second thing you need to know is that for many natives of eastern Tennessee, Parton, 71, is known for much, much more than just music. She is an icon for a place that outsiders can sometimes underestimate, said Carson Hollingsworth, the student body president at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
“I think there are some stereotypes associated with the area, especially in rural Appalachia,” he said. “I think it’s great that we have a fifigure like Dolly Parton who comes from the area and is able to shed light on it and be an ambassador.”
The course, which was taught for the first time last year and will be taught again in the fall, gained attention recently when Parton commented on it on Twitter. “From the girl voted in High School ‘least likely to succeed’
continued on