Global Appalachia Learning Alliance (GALA) Reading Group
The Global Appalachia Learning Alliance Working Group launched this innovative reading group series during the Spring 2024 semester. This series brings together both Pitt and non-Pitt faculty, graduate students, staff, and community members to collectively delve into issues that hold significance for the region. Led by faculty members from Pitt and West Virginia University, the series hosted discussions in January, February, and March. These discussions shed light on the often-neglected aspects of this region, even within our own university community.
The Global Appalachia Faculty Reading Series brings Appalachia into conversation with other global regions that have experienced similar histories and challenges. Each semester pairs Appalachia with a specific region of the world to explore shared questions surrounding extraction and economic transition, migration and depopulation, environmental justice, Indigenous land rights, cultural identity, and the future of rural communities.
Rather than viewing Appalachia as an isolated case, the series asks participants to consider what Appalachia can teach us about global challenges and what the experiences of communities elsewhere can teach us about Appalachia.
Fall 2026 Session Description
Theme: Coal, Labor, and the Afterlife of Extraction
Dates: September 30, October 28, and December 9, 2026
Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET
Location: University of Pittsburgh, 4217 Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Registration is required.
For generations, coal shaped the economies, landscapes, politics, and identities of both Appalachia and South Wales. Mining created livelihoods and strong communities while also producing histories of labor conflict, environmental degradation, and economic dependence. As the coal industry declined, both regions confronted difficult questions about economic transition, collective memory, community identity, and what comes after extraction.
Through fiction, history, and global scholarship, participants will explore the connections between these two regions and consider broader questions about communities shaped by extractive economies.
Schedule and Book Descriptions
September 30 - Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina
Set during the West Virginia Mine Wars, the novel provides an Appalachian starting point for examining coal, outside capital, labor organizing, class, community, and resistance.
October 28 - Border Country by Raymond Williams
Williams explores a Welsh working-class community transformed by industrialization, migration, labor politics, and social change. The novel raises powerful questions about memory, home, class, and what it means to belong to a place undergoing profound economic transformation.
December 9 - Carbon Democracy by Timothy Mitchell
Our final reading expands the conversation beyond Appalachia and Wales to consider the relationship between fossil fuels, workers, political power, and democracy. Mitchell provides a global framework for considering how energy systems have shaped political and economic life, and how the histories of Appalachia and South Wales fit within a much larger story.
Copies of the books will be available in the Global Studies Center for local registrants to pick up. Please contact Veronica Dristas at dristas@pitt.edu with questions.
Note: We are able to fund and distribute books to registrants as funding allows. Registration will remain open after this amount is reached. Registrants will be notified if we are unable to provide them with the reading material.
Spring 2026 Session Description:
Theme: Spaces
Registration is required.
The Global Appalachian Reading Group for Spring 2026 examines the complex intersections of regional identity, connectedness and disconnectedness to lived spaces, and environmental justice as they pertain to Appalachia and its connections to the wider world. Through thoughtful engagement with The Appalachian Trail by Philip D'Anieri, No Last Place to Rest by Dineo Skosana, and Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, participants will explore the spaces that comprise and define Appalachia, reflect on the theme of dispossession within the context of Appalachia, and discuss global climate change through displaced species that find a home in Appalachia. This reading group invites participants to connect local narratives with global contexts, fostering deeper understanding and critical conversations about place, space, identity, sustainability, and the future of Appalachian communities.
Schedule and Book Descriptions:
January 21, 2026: The Appalachian Trail by Philip D'Anieri. The Appalachian Trail is America's most beloved trek, with millions of hikers setting foot on it every year. Yet few are aware of the fascinating backstory of the dreamers and builders who helped bring it to life over the past century.
February 18, 2026: No Last Place to Rest by Dineo Skosana. This book examines the impact of coal mining on the lives of former labor tenant and rural communities in post-apartheid South Africa.
April 1, 2026: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver. Flight Behavior takes on one of the most contentious subjects of our time: climate change. With a deft and versatile empathy Kingsolver dissects the motives that drive denial and belief in a precarious world.
What is the Global Appalachia Learning Alliance (GALA)?
The Global Appalachia Learning Alliance (GALA) aims to enhance global studies in and of Appalachia. The formal definition of Appalachia, which spans 13 states from southern New York to Northern Mississippi, dates to the early 1960s, when regional governors encouraged the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to assist their mountain counties, where one in three residents lived in poverty. Since then, much of the study of the region has been inward-looking. This initiative looks outward in two ways: first, by offering supporting faculty research and course development support, career toolkits for students, and K–12 teacher training in global studies, targeting regional schools; and second, by promoting research on the global history and challenges of the region. A collaboration between Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh, which offers both rural and urban Appalachian perspectives, GALA is a consortium of institutions that shares resources and improves international education and research across the region.
The GALA is dedicated to advancing discourse and dialogue by:
- Building capacity across a wide range of diverse identities and perspectives
- Creating inclusive spaces where individuals feel empowered to contribute
- Ensuring conversations reflect the multiplicity within our community
Affiliated Programs, Groups, and Initiatives
Global Appalachia: Interdisciplinary Perspective on a Region in Motion
This initiative seeks to build an interdisciplinary cohort of scholars and activists whose work involves the Appalachian region for more engaged discussion and scholarship. This cohort will be part of a regional consortium of institutions of higher education, Community Colleges and Minority Serving Institutions, to stimulate research, share programs and resources, and provide curriculum and professional development opportunities throughout the 13-state region. This approach reflects a broader strategy to avoid one-off events and focus on building lasting scholarly communities and networks tied to Pitt’s global thematic priorities.
Global Appalachian Working Group
The working group, in collaboration with the Institute for Spatial History Innovation(ISHI), the School of Public and International Affairs(SPIA), and the Global Studies Center aims to facilitate collaborative discussion on regional issues through a global lens. This partnership, integral to the broader initiative of the Global Appalachian Learning Alliance (GALA), operates through Pitt’s Global Studies Center and Penn State’s Center for Global Studies. Leveraging existing networks and partnerships, the working group has established a consortium dedicated to sharing educational resources and programming across the frequently overlooked 13- state region.