Indiana University undergraduate students gathered Thursday at IU’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to showcase Dolly Parton-themed projects for the second annual Dollyfest.
Dollyfest is an end of semester celebration for the class The Anthropology of Dolly Parton. The course is a way to help students understand society and culture through Parton, associate instructor of the course Rachel Seymour said.
IU anthropology professor Sarah Phillips started the class last year. She was interested in how someone could see social, cultural anthropology through the lens of a single person, Seymour said.
Dollyfest consisted of projects that students made such as podcasts, magazines, tarot cards, and more, which they presented to those in attendance. The event was open to the public. The projects addressed topics that were discussed in class including the different fields Parton has been a part of and to how her upbringing in Appalachia influenced the way she has broken down stereotypes of that area.
“So essentially, we're looking at Dolly as a philanthropist, or Dolly as somebody who is a business woman, or Dolly as a global icon, things like that,” Seymour said. “We're also looking at Dolly in a lot of different ways, like through labor movements, through stereotypes, through identity work.”
IU student Margaret McConville and her group compared the feminism of current pop culture artists with Parton’s own brand.
“We did a podcast on Dolly Parton art and feminism,” McConville said. “We each chose a pop culture artist. I chose Sabrina Carpenter, and then the other two girls in my group chose SZA and Taylor Swift.”
McConville said Parton is more traditional and considers feminism as man hating. Parton does not consider herself a feminist, although some of her fans do. Carpenter takes on a new stance on feminism and is open about her sexuality and femininity. McConville noted that both artists inspire each other which can be seen through the collaborations they have done, and both uniquely express themselves artistically and individually.
IU student Charlotte Hottle and her group reproduced one of Parton’s songs called My Tennessee Mountain Home. One group member played the cello as the bass, another played the guitar, harmonica and produced it, and all the group members sung, she said.
“It was the first song that we learned about, and it really encapsulates Dolly Parton as a person and a brand, and we thought that was really important to reproduce it and put it in our own sense,” Hottle said.
The song is one of the first songs Parton sang on The Porter Wagoner Show, Hottle said. It talks about growing up in a simpler life in Tennessee, as opposed to the “glitz and glam and big hair” people know of her now. Hottle said she and her groups think the song calls to who Parton is on the inside and what she built herself on.
At the end of the showcase, students and attendees voted on their favorite project. The winner made hand painted tarot cards representing the different eras and aspects associated with Parton. For example, The Emperor card, which represented protection, discipline, and inner authority, was of Parton standing in Dollywood. The Fool card, which represented a free spirit, open-hearted, dumb blonde era, was Parton starting on the Porter Wagoner Show.
Seymour said she hopes the class gives people a more accessible way to understand anthropology by studying an accessible person like Parton.
The class will be offered again next spring.
