Southern Cultures

A multicultural, interdisciplinary panorama of past and contemporary southern society are captured in "Bridging Southern Culture" by some of the South's leading historians, anthropologists, literary critics, musicologists, and folklorists. Using the best of recent scholarship, this collection demonstrates a revitalized energy in southern studies. A showcase of preeminent southern intellectuals, this book is is a heady mix of observations that draw new connections between eras, groups, races, and subregions. Lowe and his peers present a timely assessment of the state of southern studies in the twenty-first century.

The Winter 2014 Issue brings us duels and Dashboard Poets, eels and faux villages, a beloved television icon, interviews with liberal hero Walter Mondale and conservative activist Jack Kershaw, Civil War battlefi eld monuments, and more. From familiar faces and famous legends to humble commemorations and invented histories, we explore the tensions between preservation and progress that have forged the region as we know it.

In the Fall 2014 issue of Southern Cultures… From mullet fishing on Brown's Island to shrimping on the Gulf Coast, from recreation on the Great Lakes of the South to coastal tourism in the Sunbelt and tramping in the swampy lowlands of eastern NC, we take a look at tourism's vital role in regional economies and the challenges of conservation and sustainability. Also in this issue, Andrew W. Kahrl examines the Sunbelt's foundation, "plac[ing] the coast at the center of the story and seek[ing] to understand how beaches came to reflect and influence broader changes in the region's cultures and political economy." Christopher J. Manganiello details the rise of dams on the Savannah River, which now block the migration of shad and sturgeon. "What did the shoals look like when the lilies bloomed?" he asks. "And…what would it be like to witness the great shad migrations and fishing parties of the past?" Ian Draves addresses that question by exploring the Tennessee Valley Authority's impact on tourism, and John James Kaiser chronicles the battle over rate hikes and regulated energy from North Carolina's Southern Power Company (now Duke Energy). David Cecelski's annotated photo essay, "An Eye for Mullet," provides witness to Brown's Island Mullet Camp. The photos, taken by Charles Farrell in 1938, reflect a time when fish dealers in Morehead City, N.C., "loaded so many barrels of salt mullet on outbound freight cars that local people referred to the railroad as 'the Old Mullet Line.'" Bernard L. Herman and William Arnett offer another visual take on water through the work of artists including Lonnie Holley, Ronald Lockett, and Thornton Dial Jr. ALSO! Poetry by Patricia Smith; and a short recollection by Bland Simpson on the swamps of his youth.

Personal. Public. Historical. The next issue of Southern Cultures is devoted entirely to Memory. . . . . . Why We Argue So Much About Robert E. Lee . . . Alice Walker, Allan Gurganus, Elizabeth Spencer, Randall Kenan, and More Great Writers on our Favorite Films and What They Make Us Remember . . . Catfish Hunter: Baseball Legend, Small-town God . . . Life and Times: World War II–Era Appalachia . . . Growing Up in Hot Springs, Arkansas . . . New Poetry from Robert Morgan . . . What To Do About the Thomas Ruffin Statue . . . The Interview: "The Grandmother of Appalachian Studies" on the Long Women's Movement

The Special Roots Music Issue features: B.B. King on Bukka White's legacy; The Top Ten Folk Singers of All Time; Bob Dylan backstage in '63 and other rare photographic gems; Swamp bluesman Jimmy Anderson's first published interview in the U.S.; Lynyrd Skynyrd vs. the Allman Brothers; Pete, Peggy, & Mike--and all the rest that Charles Seeger gave to the world of music; Willie Lowery--musician, songwriting sensation, and humanitarian; Saxie Dowell, the great saxophonist and war hero; a sneak peek at NASHVILLE CHROME, the sizzling new novel from Rick Bass; and much more. The Roots Music Issue comes with a classic FREE CD full of great roots musicians, including BUKKA WHITE, ETTA BAKER, THE BYRDS' ROGER MCGUINN, WILLIE LOWERY, IDYLL SWORDS, ALABAMA SLIM & LITTLE FREDDIE KING, JIMMY ANDERSON & THE MOJO BLUES BAND, MICHAEL HURLEY, FILTHYBIRD, MEGAFAUN, PRESTON FULP, JOE BROWN, AND MORE OF THE SOUTH'S BEST ROOTS MUSICIANS—old and new. We'll mail the CD separately to our Roots Music e-book customers at no extra charge. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

Southern Cultures: The Help Special Issue Volume 20: Number 1 – Spring 2014 Table of Contents Front Porch, by Harry L. Watson "Lauded for her endless gifts and selfless generosity, Mammy is summoned from the kitchen to refute the critics of southern race relations; cruelly circumscribed and taken for granted, she silently confirms them all." The Divided Reception of The Help by Suzanne W. Jones The more one examines the reception of The Help, the less one is able to categorize the reception as divided between blacks and whites or academics and general readers or those who have worked as domestics and those who haven't. Black Women's Memories and The Help by Valerie Smith "Cultural products—literary texts, television series, films, music, theatre, etc.—that look back on the Movement tell us at least as much about how contemporary culture views its own racial politics as they do about the past they purport to represent, often conveying the fantasy that the United States has triumphed over and transcended its racial past." "A Stake in the Story": Kathryn Stockett's The Help, Ellen Douglas's Can't Quit You, Baby, and the Politics of Southern Storytelling by Susan V. Donaldson "Like The Help, Can't Quit You, Baby focuses on the layers of habit, antipathy, resentment, suspicion, attachment, and silence linking white employer and black employee, but in ways that are far more unsettling." "We Ain't Doin' Civil Rights": The Life and Times of a Genre, as Told in The Help by Allison Graham "Perhaps because the modern Civil Rights Movement and television news came of age together, the younger medium was destined to become an iconographic feature of the civil rights genre." Every Child Left Behind: Minny's Many Invisible Children in The Help by Kimberly Wallace-Sanders "The question arises: wouldn't the mammy characters be rendered more believable in their altruism if it extended beyond white children to all children?" Kathryn Stockett's Postmodern First Novel by Pearl McHaney "Pleasure and anger are dependent on one another for heightened authenticity. Discussing The Help with delight and outrage seems just the right action." Not Forgotten: Twenty-Five Years Out from Telling Memories Conversations Between Mary Yelling and Susan Tucker compiled and introduced by Susan Tucker "I am glad she used what the women told us and made something different from it. She made people listen. I know it is fiction, and I know not everyone liked it, but she made people not forget. What more can you want?" Mason-Dixon Lines Prayer for My Children poetry by Kate Daniels About the Contributors Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

In the Spring 2012 issue of Southern Cultures… Guest editor Marcie Cohen Ferris brings together some of the best new writing on Southern food for the Summer 2012 issue of Southern Cultures , which features an interview with TREME writer Lolis Elie and Ferris's own retrospective on Southern sociology, the WPA, and Food in the New South. The Food issue includes Rebecca Sharpless on Southern women and rural food supplies, Bernard Herman on Theodore Peed's Turtle Party, Will Sexton's "Boomtown Rabbits: The Rabbit Market in Chatham County, North Carolina," Courtney Lewis on how the "Case of the Wild Onions" paved the way for Cherokee rights, poetry by Michael Chitwood, and much more. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

In the Spring 2011 issue of Southern Cultures -- The Irish Issue -- Front Porch by Harry L. Watson "The authors in this special issue on Ireland and the South argue that the Irish left an outsized imprint on the cultures of the American South and forged a persistent affinity between Ireland and the South." "A lengthening chain in the shape of memories" The Irish and Southern Culture by William R. Ferris "Irish rockers U2 are committed fans of B.B. King and wrote the song 'When Love Comes to Town' at his request. The song introduced King to important new rock audiences." Tara, the O'Haras, and the Irish Gone With the Wind by Geraldine Higgins "Into the debate about place, race, and the second-best-selling book of all time, we can also bring Irishness." Another "Lost Cause" The Irish in the South Remember the Confederacy by David Gleeson "As there had been only two prominent Irish generals, and only one, Cleburne, had had a very distinguished record, the story of the common soldier was the story of the Irish Confederate." Blacks and Irish on the Riverine Frontiers The Roots of American Popular Music by Christopher J. Smith "One of the realities of American life is that certain features of African American performance style will remain strange and alluring to those outside the culture. Not least among such features is the making of hard social commentary on recurring problems of life, often through cutting and breaking techniques-contentious interactions continually calling for a change of direction." Smoke 'n' Guns A Preface to a Poem about Marginal Souths, and then the Poem by Conor O'Callaghan "Addressing a jubilant crowd in Belfast shortly after the declaration of the original ceasefire in 1993, Gerry Adams reminded his audience that 'they haven't gone away, you know.' He meant that even as 'the cause' was dwindling, its upholders-'the boys'-were still among us. He might just as easily have been talking about the Klan."

In this special Southern Lives issue: * Billy Carter dresses for all occasions. * Virginia Foster Durr opens her home to recently released inmates. * Michael McFee tours the Billy Graham Library. * Septima Poinsette Clark celebrates fellow Civil Rights pioneers. * Albert Murray goes on the record about Ralph Ellison's style. * Margaret Walker Alexander reveals her takes on Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker. ... and much more. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

The Music Issue enhanced eBook include all the tracks on our special CD and: The tell-all letter from a teenage girl who kissed—and kissed—Elvis Presley How corruption and greed made the Jacksonville music scene Gretchen Wilson, country music's "Redneck Woman" The invaluable social spaces of African American record stores Bobby Rush, "bluesman-plus" Where Opryland resides in hearts, minds, and souls Backstage with the Avett Brothers, Doc Watson, Tift Merritt, Southern Culture on the Skids, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Johnny Cash, and more great artists. This enhanced eBook also contains Loving, Leaving, Liquor, and the Lord, which is packed with tracks from the Avett Brothers, Doc and Merle Watson, Archers of Loaf, and many more amazing Southern musicians--old and new. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

This Omnibus E-book brings together all four issues of Southern Cultures Volume 15, published in 2009. Volume 15 of Southern Cultures explores Lee's Tomb, how Southern evangelicals kept sin from sacred spaces, the power of memorials, W.E.B. Du Bois's unusual connection to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, sundown towns, the African American architect who designed one of the South's elite institutions during Jim Crow, and both the Mississippi Delta and Core Sound Workboats in photographs. It also includes two theme issues with multimedia content, "The Edible South" and "Music." "The Edible South," our first food issue, includes the favorite foods of our favorite writers, Drum Head Stew from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, girls' tomato clubs, Wormsloe plantation, select short films on food from our friends at the Southern Foodways Alliance on the bonus DVD, and more. Our Fall special issue is our third music issue includes a never-before-published interview with "Son" Thomas, a brief history of the boogie, Ella May Wiggins, Top Ten best of jazz, blues, country, and rock greats, Emmett Till in music and song, and more. Enhanced with the 20 music tracks from the bonus CD, "Cool-Water Music," it brings together yet another eclectic mix of folk, blues, country, and alternative rock, from Pete Seeger to Whistlin' Britches to Charlie Louvin and George Jones to the Rosebuds. A feast! Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.

The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

The fifth volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture explores language and dialect in the South, including English and its numerous regional variants, Native American languages, and other non-English languages spoken over time by the region's immigrant communities. Among the more than sixty entries are eleven on indigenous languages and major essays on French, Spanish, and German. Each of these provides both historical and contemporary perspectives, identifying the language's location, number of speakers, vitality, and sample distinctive features. The book acknowledges the role of immigration in spreading features of Southern English to other regions and countries and in bringing linguistic influences from Europe and Africa to Southern English. The fascinating patchwork of English dialects is also fully presented, from African American English, Gullah, and Cajun English to the English spoken in Appalachia, the Ozarks, the Outer Banks, the Chesapeake Bay Islands, Charleston, and elsewhere. Topical entries discuss ongoing changes in the pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar of English in the increasingly mobile South, as well as naming patterns, storytelling, preaching styles, and politeness, all of which deal with ways language is woven into southern culture.

From semitropical coastal areas to high mountain terrain, from swampy lowlands to modern cities, the environment holds a fundamental importance in shaping the character of the American South. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture surveys the dynamic environmental forces that have shaped human culture in the region--and the ways humans have shaped their environment. Articles examine how the South's ecology, physiography, and climate have influenced southerners--not only as a daily fact of life but also as a metaphor for understanding culture and identity. This volume includes ninety-eight essays that explore--both broadly and specifically--elements of the southern environment. Thematic overviews address subjects such as plants, animals, energy use and development, and natural disasters. Shorter topical entries feature familiar species such as the alligator, the ivory-billed woodpecker, kudzu, and the mockingbird. Also covered are important individuals in southern environmental history and prominent places in the landscape, such as the South's national parks and seashores. New articles cover contemporary issues in land use and conservation, environmental protection, and the current status of the flora and fauna widely associated with the South.

There is no denying that race is a critical issue in understanding the South. However, this concluding volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture challenges previous understandings, revealing the region's rich, ever-expanding diversity and providing new explorations of race relations. In 36 thematic and 29 topical essays, contributors examine such subjects as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Japanese American incarceration in the South, relations between African Americans and Native Americans, Chinese men adopting Mexican identities, Latino religious practices, and Vietnamese life in the region. Together the essays paint a nuanced portrait of how concepts of race in the South have influenced its history, art, politics, and culture beyond the familiar binary of black and white.

This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture offers a timely, authoritative, and interdisciplinary exploration of issues related to social class in the South from the colonial era to the present. With introductory essays by J. Wayne Flynt and by editors Larry J. Griffin and Peggy G. Hargis, the volume is a comprehensive, stand-alone reference to this complex subject, which underpins the history of the region and shapes its future. In 58 thematic essays and 103 topical entries, the contributors explore the effects of class on all aspects of life in the South--its role in Indian removal, the Civil War, the New Deal, and the civil rights movement, for example, and how it has been manifested in religion, sports, country and gospel music, and matters of gender. Artisans and the working class, indentured workers and steelworkers, the Freedmen's Bureau and the Knights of Labor are all examined. This volume provides a full investigation of social class in the region and situates class concerns at the center of our understanding of Southern culture.

This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture reflects the dramatic increase in research on the topic of gender over the past thirty years, revealing that even the most familiar subjects take on new significance when viewed through the lens of gender. The wide range of entries explores how people have experienced, understood, and used concepts of womanhood and manhood in all sorts of obvious and subtle ways. The volume features 113 articles, 65 of which are entirely new for this edition. Thematic articles address subjects such as sexuality, respectability, and paternalism and investigate the role of gender in broader subjects, including the civil rights movement, country music, and sports. Topical entries highlight individuals such as Oprah Winfrey, the Grimke sisters, and Dale Earnhardt, as well as historical events such as the capture of Jefferson Davis in a woman's dress, the Supreme Court's decision in Loving v. Virginia, and the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, with its slogan, "I AM A MAN." Bringing together scholarship on gender and the body, sexuality, labor, race, and politics, this volume offers new ways to view big questions in southern history and culture.