Matthew J. Ferrence


Title: Assistant Professor of English
Department: English
Research Fields of Interest: Nonfiction Writing; Fiction Writing; Appalachian Studies; American Literature
Degree: B.A., Indiana University of Pennsylvania; MFA., University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., West Virginia University

Contact Info:

Email: mferrence@allegheny.edu
Telephone: (814) 332-4339
Office Location: Oddfellows #218

Office Hours: FALL 2012- TBA

Courses and Syllabi
Spring 2012
English 205*02: Writing Ficiton Download Syllabus
English 210*00: Writing Nonfiction Download Syllabus
English 210*01: Writing Fiction Download Syllabus]

Fall 2011
Engl 209*00 Literature About the Environment Download Syllabus
Engl 403*00 Advanced Nonfiction Writing Workshop Download Syllabus

Creative Publications

  • “Museum Piece.” Literary essay. Puckerbrush Review 27.1 (Summer/Fall 2010): 31-34.
  • “Spaces Between.” Literary essay. Blue Mesa Review 23 (Spring 2010): 66-78.
  • “Rules of the Game.” Literary essay. Stymie 2.1 (Summer 2009): 21-29. Nominated for 2009 Pushcart Prize and 2010 Dzanc Books Best of the Web Prize.
  • “Highways and Fairways.” Literary essay. Crab Orchard Review14.1 (Winter/Spring 2009): 174-182.
  • “Viewed From Above.” Literary essay. Concho River Review 22.2 (Fall 2008): 69-80.
  • “On the Turquoise Tee.” Literary essay. Blue Mesa Review 20/21 (Fall 2007/Spring 2008): 68-77.
  • “Home Sweet Roadhouse.” Literary essay. Nebula 4.1 (March 2007): 84-89.

Critical Publications

  • “You Are and You Ain’t: Story and Literature as Redneck Resistance.” Journal of Appalachian Studies (forthcoming).
  • “Breaking the Filibuster of Race: the Literary Resonance of the Emmett Till Murder.” Arkansas Review 41.1 (Spring 2010): 45-62.
  • “The Naturalized Redneck: Performing Citizenship through Patriotic Submission.” Popular Culture Review  19.2 (Summer 2008): 61-67.
  • “Make it Up, Make it Right: Presidential Truth Through Biographical Falsity in Edmund Morris’s Dutch.” EAPSU 3.1 (Fall 2006): 131-143.

Conference Presentations

  • “Redneck Spectacle.” Conference Paper. Pop Culture Association of the South/American Culture Association of the South Annual Conference. Savannah, GA. October 7-9, 1010.
  • “The Lyrical Jock.” Session instructor. Creative Nonfiction Writing Seminar. Winter Wheat Festival at Bowling Green State University. Bowling Green, OH. November 12-14, 2009.
  • “Blue Collor Supremacy Tour: Larry the Cable Guy and the Battle for America’s Cultural Color.” Conference paper. Pop Culture Association of the South/American Culture Association of the South Annual Conference. Wilmington, NC. October 1-3, 2009.
  • “The Written Redneck: Regional Image, National Identity.” Invited keynote presentation. IUP Undergraduate English Conference. Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA. February 16, 2009.
  • “Truckers and Redneck Jokes: How The Man Became a Redneck.” Conference paper. Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. February 21-23, 2008.
  • “The Naturalized Redneck: Performing Citizenship through Patriotic Submission.” Conference Paper. Far West Popular Culture Association/Far West American Culture Association Annual Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada. January 25-27, 2008.
  • “Redneck, White, and Blue: Rural Identity as Patriotic Act.” Conference paper. Futures of American Studies Institute. Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH. June 18-24, 2007.
  • “Definite Ambiguity: Memento’s Destabilizing Package.” Conference paper. Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900. University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. February 24-27, 2007.