100 Days in Appalachia, After Coal Panel

Tom Hansell of Appalachian State University will discuss his documentary After Coal: Stories of Survival in Appalachia and Wales Hansell will be joined by panelists Caity Coyne of the Charleston Gazette-Mail and Nicholas Stump of the George R. Farmer Jr. Law Library at WVU. Ashton Marra of WVU’s Reed College of Media and 100 Days in Appalachia will moderate this conversation about how communities and cultures survive after coal. The discussion is sponsored by the WVU Humanities Center, the Appalachian Justice Initiative at WVU Law, Reed College of Media, and West Virginia University Press. WVU Law guest speaker Tom Hansell Hansell is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has been broadcast on public television and screened at international film festivals. Hansell has more than two decades of experience working with coalfield residents to create collaborative media projects. He began his career at the Appalshop media arts center, and he currently teaches at Appalachian State University. Central Appalachia and south Wales were built to extract coal and faced with coal’s decline, both regions have experienced economic depression, labor unrest, and out-migration. After Coal focuses on coalfield residents who chose to remain in their communities and work to build a diverse and sustainable economy. The book tells the story of four decades of exchange between two mining communities on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and profiles individuals and organizations that are undertaking the critical work of regeneration. The stories in After Coal are told through interviews and photographs collected during the making of After Coal, a documentary film produced by the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University and directed by Hansell. Considering resonances between Appalachia and Wales in the realms of labor, environment, and movements for social justice, the book approaches the transition from coal as an opportunity for marginalized people around the world to work toward safer and more egalitarian futures.

Added 30 Mar 2026