Rivertowns Initiative
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Towns on the river in the central Susquehanna region have developed strong and distinctive characters from the environmental, cultural, and economic influences of their location. The Rivertowns initiative brings together academics, community actors, and others with an interest in community health and community development. |
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The river towns in the region of the confluence benefited from a rich history of economic growth in this resource-rich landscape. But those economic successes seem to be mostly in the past for many of the towns, and their social worlds are changing fast, with job losses, declining infrastructure, out-migration of many of the youth, and immigration of unfamiliar ethnicities. |
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The Rivertowns Initiative has supported symposia, grant applications, fieldtrips, local history student research, and collaborative scholarly efforts. A regional conference is scheduled for Fall 2011. Initiative-related materials include the following:
The Initiative will continue to bring together local experts and local citizens, and to produce written material to help people understand both the past and the potential of their local home region. |
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A watershed-wide network of academics and community members involved in the above projects. Its projects include the journal Watershed, published from Bloomsburg University by editor Jerry Wemple.
Cultures at the Confluence: Mapping the Susquehanna Valley from the Inside is a 3 year old digital-humanities project that seeks to highlight the intersection of cultural landscapes and narratives with environmental systems from a perspective inside the region.
Imagine school children, university students and local residents kayaking or hiking down the Susquehanna Corridor, walking the streets of rivertowns, or navigating the Valley in cyberspace -- encountering interpretive signage and data on-site, on-line, in-print, or through artistic storytelling, highlighting layers of culture engaged with the natural systems around them.
