As one of the students in the Master’s of English with a Concentration in Folklore Studies at George Mason University, Ozzy Whitley has done incredible work in the short time she has been a part of the program. I sat down with Ozzy to talk about her academic journey, her time in the Folklore Program, and her plans for the future.
Ozzy is originally from Columbia, South Carolina. She grew up as a musician surrounded by a very musical family. That influence of Southern music and culture that surrounded her in childhood has followed Ozzy through her academic journey. As an undergraduate student at Coastal Carolina University, she received dual degrees in Geography and Anthropology. She had opportunities as part of her coursework to conduct ethnographic fieldwork with local Waccamaw tribal members to help create an exhibition documenting the Waccamaw’s history. As Ozzy recounted this experience she remembered that what made it rewarding was sitting down and working with the tribal members to create the exhibit.
Ozzy’s interest in cultural geography and documentation led her to apply to George Mason as an Anthropology master’s student. She enjoyed learning about cultural anthropology, and the theoretical aspects to it. However, in her second semester at Mason, Ozzy took the class, “Folklore and Ethnographic Research Methods,” with Dr. Lisa Gilman, and it changed her perspective on how she wanted to engage in the social sciences. She recognized the overlap in what she learned about in her anthropology theory readings and was excited by the prospect of using them as a folklorist in direct applications like programming and archiving with specific communities. What she learned about the field of folklore resonated with what she had enjoyed most about working on the Waccamaw museum exhibit. Ozzy stated: “It’s everything that you read about and it’s just completely hands-on, on the ground kind of work. And I just fell in love with it.”
Ozzy (center) on a fieldtrip with Dr. Gilman’s Public Folklore Class to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington DC
Ozzy officially joined the Folklore Program in Fall 2023. Even though it has been a difficult journey transitioning between master’s programs halfway through her studies, Ozzy has been able to draw from her diverse academic background to thrive in her research and coursework. She appreciates that she can draw from the different disciplines that she has studied. She says that “a lot of my resources are coming from fields in human and cultural geography and a little bit of philosophy and a lot of cultural anthropology and folklore. So it’s all coming together really nice, and I’m loving it.”
For her master’s capstone, Ozzy’s interdisciplinary project is on the “Hillbilly Highway” in the Washington DC area. “Hillbilly Highway” is a term used to describe the phenomenon of people from Appalachia moving to large urban cities along the east coast, like Washington DC, to seek opportunities. Ozzy’s project centers on the impact that migration has on both Appalachian artists and their music. She felt that researching the “Hillbilly Highway” would address the lack of discussion about Appalachian and also Southern culture in greater DC despite the mass migration of people to the area.
Ozzy presenting at her thesis event in April 2024
Ozzy’s extensive musical upbringing has guided her academic journey. In her family and local community, Ozzy grew up listening to blues, R&B, and gospel music while learning how to sing and play piano in those genres. Meanwhile in school, she played classical trumpet for seven years. During those seven years, Ozzy noticed that there were differences between learning classical trumpet and the music in her community. Learning the trumpet had a very formal process, as compared to the more “folk” process she was used to. There was the added jab that with learning the trumpet, the music she played was western “classical music” and even the jazz standards she was learning was not the music that she had grown up with and that reflected her identity. Ozzy quit playing music when she started to pursue her undergraduate degree. Even though she did not have music as a direct form of expression anymore, it still surrounded her in the South and that was enough at the time.
When she moved to Northern Virginia, Ozzy began to feel homesick for music. Luckily, the DC area hosts a breadth of concerts and music venues. So Ozzy went to all the shows and jam sessions she could, often attending events where Appalachian musicians played. Ozzy recognized the similarities between Appalachia and her own Southern culture, especially when it came to music. Despite it being a different musical genre from the ones she grew up with, Bluegrass felt like home to Ozzy. Then it hit her that there was something worth researching that would combine her interests in anthropology and music through folklore studies.
During our interview, Ozzy noted the connection between her own journey from South Carolina to Northern Virginia and Appalachians’ migration to DC. For example, she mentioned, dealing with feelings of not belonging in the DC area, where she was just one of many transplants. She came to the DC area for academic advancement and opportunity and ended up being engrossed in the things that she left in her community back home:
“I've been up here in Fairfax for about a year and a half now, going on two years. Moving up here was simultaneously great, but also gut wrenching. I found my own personal sense of place to be kind of destroyed a little bit when I came up here…What helped me recently to really remind myself of home and feel at home is the music… So I think there’s a lot of parallels that can be drawn between my own experience, their experience, and the concept of this project overall and examining the Hillbilly Highway.”
Ozzy’s master’s project culminated in an Appalachian music event that took place in April 2024. Two musicians, Bruce Miller and Sean Franco, were invited to play music from the Appalachian region for an audience at George Mason University. Afterwards, Ozzy facilitated a discussion around the music, its history, its impact, and how the music is changing through time around the movements of its musicians. Ozzy collaborated with the student organization the Folklore Roundtable to host the event, which included food as well as the performance and discussion. When questioned why she chose to organize and host an event instead of doing a written thesis, Ozzy said that she wouldn’t have had the same kind of community engagement with people both within the field and outside of it with a paper. She mentioned that public folklore work does so much and functions in so many different ways for many different people. Her goal for the event was to “shed a little bit more light on Appalachian culture and [get] to really think about where it is this music came from and who it came for.”
Ozzy Whitley (left) and Bruce Miller (center) listening to Sean Franco (right) discuss Appalachian music.
In addition to her research, this spring Ozzy also had the opportunity to attend the Appalachian Studies Association's annual conference in Cullowhee, North Carolina with Dr. Debra Lattanzi Shutika, another faculty member in the Folklore Program. She said that at the conference, “there’s a lot of conversation about music and how it functions and what it does for identity and community and contributes to people’s sense of place no matter where they are, whether it’s in Appalachia or outside of Appalachia. And that just further solidified my love for it.”
Ozzy graduated Spring 2024. While she entered grad school with a varied academic background, her interests and experiences have now crystalized into a dream of being a public folklorist, specifically working with a state folklife program to engage in public programming. Reflecting on her time in the Folklore Program, Ozzy mused, “I guess heading out the door, I'm gonna miss [the Folklore Program]…The faculty, the opportunities, the variety that we have in our… paid positions, is great. And the students,.. there's a sense of community here, definitely. You can see it. I'm gonna miss it.”
Ozzy Whitley (right) sitting with other Folklore Program students on the Fairfax Campus
Article by Stephanie Aitken
April 18, 2024