Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio and Donald Ray Pollock’s Knockemstiff are linked by common structural features as well as cultural concerns. Held side by side, both story cycles illustrate a regional history of downward mobility, as documented in Nancy Isenberg’s White Trash (2016) and J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy (2016). Phenomena unheard of in turn-of-the-century Winesburg, such as war trauma, dementia, drug addiction, and systemic violence dominate Knockemstiff. In complex ways both story cycles feed into current discussions of critical regionalism (Kenneth Frampton, Klaus Benesch, Klaus Lösch, Heike Paul) cultural mobility (Stephen Greenblatt), slow violence (Rob Nixon), and cruel optimism (Lauren Berlant).

Transdisciplinary collaboration between local universities can thrive when
scholars combine resources and begin to create projects with a local
audience in mind. The Atlanta Studies Network supports an interdisciplinary group of scholars, students, instructors, professionals, and community members who engage with the Atlanta metro area as a space for research, teaching, and activism. Through the development of digital resources, events, methods, projects, and platforms this network seeks to promote research and understanding of Atlanta’s past, present, and prospective future. Over the past 8 years, the network has created a geospatial storytelling platform that combines thousands of maps from multiple institutions, a teaching site where k-12 and college instructors can share assignments and syllabi focused on our city, an online journal with
thousands of readers, digital museums about historically significant spaces in the city, and may other events, projects, and resources. This presentation will provide an overview of the Atlanta Studies Network with a particular focus on mapping, 3D visualization, and digital curation.

Brennan Collins is the Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Georgia State University for Digital  pedagogy and Atlanta Studies. The interdisciplinary nature and technology focus of these program allows him to work with a diverse faculty in exploring inventive pedagogies. He is particularly interested in creating transdisciplinary and interinstitutional projects and platforms that explore the urban landscape to develop student critical thinking and create opportunities for community engagement. This work explores the intersection of the Humanities with the emerging fields of mapping, digital heritage, data visualization and curation, and immersive learning. He teaches courses in Multiethnic U.S. Literature and comics.