The University of Tennessee in Knoxville will soon be offering students an opportunity to take a semester-long class titled “Dolly’s America: From Sevierville to the World”, based on Dolly Parton.
The full syllabus has not been made public, but as a part of the coursework, students will be required to read Parton’s book, Dolly: My Life, along with other material covering Appalachian culture and history.
A description of the course explains that history honors students will learn “how a ‘hillbilly’ girl from Appalachia grew up to become an international one-word sensation” and “see the processes by which fiction often becomes fact, and how heritage is a blend of the real and the imagined.” Students will also be asked to watch TV series like The Beverly Hillbillies, and trailers for movies including Coal Miner’s Daughter, while taking notes on how Appalachia is perceived in pop culture. At the end of the class, every student is required to write a ten-page essay answering the question “What was Dolly Parton’s America?”
Want to take a course about @DollyParton? Of course you do! https://t.co/5m9oZDqC0E pic.twitter.com/XJ9m4ZNlZM
— UT Knoxville (@UTKnoxville) April 7, 2017