This paper discusses the social positioning work three Appalachian adolescents engaged in during two literacy events drawn from a year-long critical teacher-researcher ethnographic study in a twelfth-grade English class in a rural Appalachian high school. Data analysis indicates that in these literacy events, the focal students positioned themselves and their communities in relation to discourses on Appalachia for different social and political purposes. This study suggests that attending to the negotiations Appalachian adolescents make in relation to cultural discourses can better support critical, culturally sustaining academic curricula.